


A Code for Cargo

by GrisailleDreams



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Age Difference, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Developing Relationship, F/M, Jukebox Fic, Porn With Plot, Reader is a Sarcastic Shit, Sex for Favors, Sexual Content, Silly Powers, Slow Romance, The Author Regrets Nothing, The Author is in a Weird Place Right Now, There's a plot in here somewhere
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-12
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-02-13 21:21:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12992778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrisailleDreams/pseuds/GrisailleDreams
Summary: "We're pirates, sure, but Ravagers got a code.""Let me guess: part of it involves not letting cargo starve?"During a routine theft-from-thieves, Yondu finds something extra in the cargo with a useless power and promises of making it worth his while if he brings her back to Earth.





	1. Muzzle It

_// So long ago / Certain place / Certain time_

_You touched my hand / All the way_

_All the way down to Emmiline. //_

 

“Don’t. Scream.”

A pair of eyes had never glared so dryly at him before in all his years, and he would have laughed under different circumstances. But the situation was unexpected. It was a good thing the young woman was gagged with the toughest muzzle he’d ever seen on a junker ship like the one his crew was currently cleaning out, the kind with a rivet smack in the middle to tell him that it had a rubber peg on the other side, preventing her from speaking even behind it without the possibility of really damaging her teeth or tongue. Otherwise, he wondered if she might not pose a problem.

Slowly, Yondu gestured with two fingers that she should unfurl herself from her hiding place and follow him. The gag, the cuffs… well, maybe she was valuable to someone, somewhere.

“Now, what’s a Sakaaran scrapper doin’ with a little Terran girl all the way out here?” he asked calmly, gripping her firmly by the elbow and leading her out of the storage room that she had been using for shelter. Silence. Also a tingling sensation on the edge of his jaw that told him she was still glaring him down, and he chuckled. “Don’ worry, we’ll have that taken off once we know why it’s on you in the first place. Can’t have a fire-breather or nothing running around the place.”

The first sound he heard her make since accidentally tripping over her in the first place was a frustrated huff.

“I’m _just_ sayin’, don’t get your panties in a twist.”

They had found her entirely by accident; this was supposed to be a simple recovery mission to Datera, where they had tracked the pirates who had stolen goods from a Xandarian merchant who was less than reputable as it was. He had promised them a decent price for the returned loot but said nothing of the thieves. Nor had he mentioned anything about a living, sentient lifeform as part of his roster of wares. When Yondu marched her by the surrendering Sakaaran pirates, clearly with every intention of taking her to the dock to transfer ships, they hissed with aggravation.

“ _T_ _hat isn’t yours to take,_ ” one of them spat.

“I reckon it ain’t yours, neither, like the rest of this Xandarian junk,” he retorted carelessly, "'Cause I don't recall any bounty on no Terran recently." He caught out of the corner of his eye the way her fiery eyes locked onto the ones who had been keeping her captive, and he certainly recognized the look. Bloodthirsty vengeance.

For a brief moment, his smile faltered.

“ _There's no bounty, but it's worth much to the Grandmaster,”_ another one of the enemy crew members informed him. “ _We were to take it to his tower for his entertainment_.”

“Well, that’s just too damn bad for the Grandmaster, isn’t it? Just for that, I think I _will_ take it.” In the first place, he didn't approve of the slave trade, but he also knew what happened to people turned over to the insane, peacocking manchild who ruled this planet. The thought of a scrawny, little Terran girl like her being thrown into the gladiator's ring…?

She coughed as he wrenched the leather buckle on the gagging mask apart and freed her face from its prison, rubber peg and all, and she made to whirl on the Sakaarans - who immediately started to yowl about how stupid of a decision unmuting her had been - but Yondu caught her by the chin and forced her to look up at him.

“What’s your name, girl?” he demanded, keeping his expression cool and neutral.

“Selina,” she croaked out angrily; she hadn’t spoken a word in days, thanks to that stupid muzzle. Her skin had been rubbed red and raw where the mask had been, and her lips were cracked and bleeding.

“What would the Grandmaster want with a Terran?” Her hands, still tied together at the front, had grabbed his wrist, but she wasn’t strong enough to pry it away.

“Let me go, and I’ll show you,” Selina growled, and he watched her eyes flick back in the direction of the scrappers. Was it a threat or a promise?

He cracked a smirk and told her, “Nah, sweetheart, I don’t think so. Just get your ass on my ship like good cargo. Go quietly, and maybe the boys won’t eat you for supper.”

Selina needed to be pushed again to get the idea, but she at least started walking, casting one final glare over her shoulder at her erstwhile captors before having to be thrown into a lion’s den full of Ravagers. To her credit, she kept her head high and her eyes up, challenging them to do something. Apparently, it was sharp enough to make Brahl do a double-take and put a few more feet between himself and the new prisoner as he helped Tullk haul a crate by. For a moment, Yondu wondered if he shouldn’t find a new muzzle. Just in case.

“Throw her in the brig while we take care of the rest of the trash,” he ordered Oblo, shoving Selina down the hallway to keep her going in the right direction. “I’ll decide what to do with her after we get back in the air.”

“On it, Cap’n. C’mon, you…”

Again, he felt the burning, stinging gaze lingering on his face, and he turned to look the girl in the eye… and then grinned a little, laughing at her attempt at ferocity. It was a little like watching a scrappy puppy trying to be tough. She was certainly not Aleta Ogord by any means, but boy, was she trying. Maybe Aleta had been this way when she was young, before the Ravagers.

Aleta would have approved and offered her the chance to earn the flames.

But if there was a bounty on her head, then it could very well be worth more than adding another mouth to feed to his already large clan.

He went back outside just as his boys packed the rest of the stolen loot back into the Eclector and looked down at the tied-up Sakaarans with his hands on his hips. “I ain’t turnin’ you in for theft,” he informed. “The bounty on the contraband is high enough. Just tell me what the Grandmaster was gonna do with a squishy little Terran.”

“ _No Terran,_ ” one gargled in their craggy language. “ _It would make a nice pet for the Grandmaster, and he would pay well for our finding._ ”

“And what makes you say that?”

“ _Removing the binding was dangerous, Centaurian. You’ll want to muzzle it again before it wreaks its havoc amongst your men._ ”

His arms crossed impatiently over his chest and a small whistle chirped between his lips. The Yaka arrow floated at once above its wielder’s shoulder, pointing dangerously at the group of captives and ready to strike without another thought. “But _why_ is what I asked you, idiots,” he reminded them.

“ _The Collector has one!_ ” another, one that was less stupid and stubborn than its comrade, cried out. “ _And what one has, the brother also lusts to have, you know that! The Grandmaster would enjoy a Vahkyl for his own._ ”

“Is that so?” Vahkyl? And the Collector had one? Well, if he was interested in a pet, then at least it was less likely for the Grandmaster to throw her into an arena. That didn’t make him more willing to go against his value system. “Well, thank you, gentleman. I’d say our business is done for today.”

“ _Then let us-”_

The whistle sounded over the Sakaaran’s words, and the arrow was back at Yondu’s side in seconds flat after it had cleanly slid through the skulls of each crew member. It wouldn’t do to have them on their asses again if they decided to regroup and try to recapture the girl. That was more effort than he wanted to deal with.

Padding up the latticed ramp to go back to the craft, he tapped on the outer shell of metal and yelled out, “Alright, boys, bring this bird up!”

The hatch closed behind him and he kept on walking. The way the metal rumbled and vibrated beneath his feet was far more comforting than the solidity of being on the ground could ever be, and he took a special pleasure in feeling the ship lift off. This was where he belonged, in the sky and flying between the stars, not stuck on some rock hurtling through the universe, spinning aimlessly. He was a Ravager, and the fact of his exile didn’t change that. Not in his heart.

He walked confidently through the halls, the sounds of his heavy boot-steps swallowed up in the clamor of his crew as they returned to their usual work within the ship. One left turn, and he was heading to the brig to check on their new captive, knowing that he should make sure that his “family” wasn’t already hounding her as they were so wont to do. He expected to hear at least someone catcalling her from her defenseless position behind bars.

“ _Love pays no mind to desolation. It flows like a river through the soul._ ”

He paused and frowned. That was _not_ catcalling, and it wasn’t anyone he had hired on his ship. Something about the tone of tune gave him the shivers - and not the good kind, either. Maybe it was because he was hearing the echo, but it was almost… sinister. Which was weird for a sappy love ballad. None of Quill’s music had ever done that. Granted, Quill’s music had actual instruments backing up the vocals, whereas this odd enchantment seemed to make music out of nothing. The instrumentals weren’t there, but it wasn’t so hard to imagine them, either.

“ _Minutes turn to hours, days to years and gone. But when all else has been forgotten, still our song lives on. How does a moment last forever when our song lives on?”_

Somehow, Selina had managed to collect four or five crewmembers who had been happening to walk by with the sound, and all she had to do was sit there in her little cell hugging her knees, lean against the wall, and sing. Her voice had changed, steady and crystal clear, and she seemed entirely unbothered by the completely frozen alien men staring at her. Neither did his crew seem to realize what they were doing - their eyes were glazed over and everything. Waving his hand in front of their faces did absolutely nothing.

“Alright, quit drooling, you morons,” he snapped, whacking one of them over the back of the head. That seemed to do the trick because at once, they all seemed to come out of their trances and quickly tried to scramble away. “Get back to work! Did you forget? This is cargo, not a radio.” Only when they had scattered, he glared at the girl, who had gone quiet but otherwise didn’t seem fazed by his arrival. Or the yelling. “Now, I know that didn’t just happen because they think your singin’s pretty,” he said in a low tone, seating himself on a box. “How did you do that?”

Without looking at him, she slowly rolled her head from side to side. “I didn't mean to. It’s just something I do,” she murmured, and her voice had lost the chilling timbre of the song. In fact, she sounded downright tired. “It started when I was a teenager. _Moderate rhythmic compulsion using auditory stimuli_. Apparently, those moronic peabrains think it's something valuable, but I dunno about all that. I don't even realize that I'm doing it, most of the time.”

“‘Course not,” he grunted, still carefully watching her. “You’re Terran. Don’t know much about nothin’.”

“You know, normally I’d argue with you and your bad grammar,” she sighed sardonically, “But I’ve never felt more stupid than I have since leaving Earth and finding out that aliens actually are real, so I’ll let you have that one.”

“If you can make men freeze where they stand,” he continued, furrowing his brow a touch more, “Then how come those _peabrains_ caught you?”

“Snuck up on me. I didn’t see them coming. I was too confused after being punted through a wormhole to know what was going on.” She was certainly free with information, but that was a side effect of being held captive and she knew it. Actually, they both did. Liberally apply particulars to a long-term hostage situation and avoid physical beatings. Turning her head again, she gazed at him and added, “If you’re not taking me to this _Grandmaster_ , then what are you planning on doing with me? I don’t dare hope you’re taking me back to Earth.”

“Selling you to the highest bidder,” he retorted, straightening up where he sat. “Maybe. Or maybe we’ll keep you around for entertainment. You’ll make a change of scene from the usual whorehouse, that’s for certain.” He was grinning again, and while her distasteful glare returned, he really was kidding. He wasn’t about to pass her around the entire ship like some sort of toy they had to share.

Yet.

“The real question is,” he said, getting up so that he could crouch in front of the bars. Being on her level put more weight in his eyes and words alike, but it was in a way that he could keep the authority. “Can I trust a little songbird to not screw with my crew while she's in a cage? Or would it be smarter to get that muzzle back?”

“ _No_.”

It was in the tremble of her too-quick response and the twitch of her hands that he finally saw the distress. No, she did _not_ want that damnable muzzle tied around her mouth again, or any other, and like most beaten dogs threatened with a whip, she was extremely eager to avoid it at all costs. And if he was willing to let her breathe freely, then… well…

“I’ll try not to be disruptive,” she agreed in a soft murmur, dipping her head so she could look away. Just as expected. “Do what you want. Just… just not _that_.”

“Good girl.” His red eyes lingered on her face for a moment more; they had similar hang-ups, it seemed. He grunted a little as he pushed himself back to his feet. “Don’t worry ‘bout getting fed. It wouldn’t do to starve the cargo.”

“I have a name, you know,” she called over irritably. “And it isn’t _Cargo_.”

“Yeah, yeah. _Selina_.” He turned to her for a moment, walking backward. “And I am Yondu Udonta, greatest Ravager captain in the galaxy. You should be thankin’ me for my hospitality.”

She held his gaze for a few seconds before finally saying flatly, “Well, captain, thank you for neither immediately killing me nor ejecting me into space. Your hospitality is unquestionable.”

“My pleasure.” He snickered again as he rounded the corner; at least this prisoner was spunky.

But he was still concerned about what exactly they had brought on board because she definitely wasn’t just a Terran. Not like Quill had been, that was for sure, but she was still something a little more. What were they called? _Metaterrans_? The Sakaarans apparently had another word for her, and he should probably find out what it meant.

“Kraglin!” he called once he reached the bridge; it would be gnawing at him if he didn’t find out the definition. Maybe his first mate knew. Once the thin man appeared at his elbow, still walking, he said, “Now keep your voice down. Have you ever heard of somethin’ called a _Vahkyl_?”

“‘Course I have, Captain.” Prompt, as usual, and eager to please. It had gotten worse since Quill had run off with his Guardian friends and left a hole that Kraglin was more than happy to fill. “I’ve never met one, but they come from Xandar lookin’ just like the rest of us. Ain’t a lot of them around no more.”

That would explain why a Terran like Selina would be confused physically for a Vahkyl. Terrans and Xandarians were already identical to look at, so the jump from Terran to something _else_ Xandarian wasn't very large. “I got that much,” he growled, lightly smacking his shoulder. “What are they, though?”

“Singers, mostly,” Kraglin continued. “It’s how they talk, see? They speak like regular people, too, they learned that from the Xandarians, but when they get all worked up it turns into music. They can use it to make people do some funny stuff, I’ll tell you. One time, I heard that there was a Xandarian festival and the Nova Corps had to be called in because the Vahkyl entertainer accidentally put everyone into a never-ending dance fit-”

“What happened to ‘em, if they ain’t around?” Yondu pressed, ignoring the continued rambling.

Kraglin shrugged. “I ‘unno. I ‘spose most of ‘em took up with Xandarians, and the species sort of bred itself out. I heard they can go for a lot on the black market if you find the right buyer.”

Which was why the Grandmaster would have taken interest in her: she was allegedly a specimen of a rare, nearly extinct species who could. “Don’t tell anyone we had this conversation,” he said, cracking his neck. “Set a course for Xandar, and we’ll give back the crap we got from the Sakaarans and collect the credits.”

“What... what are we doin' about the girl, though?” Kraglin murmured. “She weren’t part of the deal or the loot. You ain't thinkin' about selling her-”

“Of course we ain’t sellin’ her, you idiot,” Yondu cut off. Not without doing some serious research about their options. The only money they would get for her would be from a bounty that might not even exist, and if it didn’t, then what were they supposed to do with her? Either way, he was glad that Kraglin hadn’t seemed to put the pieces together about his questions and Selina. “And don’t you worry about her none, just make sure she stays in the brig and out of trouble.”

“Aye, Cap’n.”

“Hold on a minute,” he put in as an afterthought. “Run ‘er through the database and see if she comes up on any lists with a price for her return. _Then_ don’t worry about her none.”

With a nod, Kraglin said, “Right away, Cap’n,” and bounded off.

* * *

The thing she hated most about space was how impossible it was to keep track of time. So she couldn’t call for help, the Sakaarans had taken Selina’s cell phone. A _primitive communicator_ , they called it, and that had been simply insulting for how much the damned thing had cost her. But without its clock or even a sun to keep time, she couldn’t tell how many days it had been since she was captured, or how long it had been since she’d last seen Earth.

Caught in the crossfire of some idiot in a cape fighting a _different_ idiot in a cape on her morning jog.

Even her body was confused, and she knew at least that her circadian rhythm was being thrown too far off. Regardless of how tired she was due to recent events, she had difficulties falling asleep and it was a light, restless affair whenever she managed a few precious hours. Still, she supposed that this was a step up from the Sakaaran ship. These _Ravagers_ , as they called themselves, had freed her hands upon locking her away, and they didn’t make her wear the gag, either. But their captain was a lecherous-looking old creep, however well-meaning he tried to make himself seem, and she already didn’t trust him any farther than she could throw him.

On the other hand, if she played her cards correctly and could keep him happy, then perhaps he might end up being her ride home.

She closed her eyes and sighed. It wasn't like she could stoop to using her powers on him; she didn’t even know where to start. Holding someone still for a few minutes was already an art she had yet to perfect.

Music was all she could think to do with herself in the meantime in the face of her lack of phone, regardless of her intentions. Nothing too terrible would happen to anyone if they came within earshot, so long as she chose the right songs. A soft tapping echoed in here cell in time with her foot, and she started to intone, “ _But if our paths never cross, well you know I’m sorry but if I live to see the Seven Wonders, I’ll make a path to the rainbow’s end. I’ll never live to match the beauty again-”_

“Girl, what I tell you about singin’?”

She looked up and there he was, standing over her. The big, blue creep. And oh, look, her “savior” came bearing gifts: a bundle was tucked under one arm, as well as a sealed pack of… something. Jerky?

“No one was around,” she huffed, looking back at the wall across from her.

“Except me, who you didn’t see comin’.” He tossed her the bundle and allowed her to inspect it. “You need to be more careful, else you might do somethin' to irritate me.”

“Because I would _hate_ to irritate the person who decided to throw me into another cage.” The red and black fabric unfolded in her hands and she tilted her head a little. A belt had been wrapped around a long, leather jacket, which in turn contained a shirt and pants that wouldn't really fit without the belt's assistance. “What else do you expect me to do with my copious amounts of me-time? You people and your leather…”

“Watch it,” he growled. “I’m the only reason you’re still alive _and_ the one who gave you that smartass mouth back. Be grateful I’m giving you anything at all.”

She did something very surprising, then. With a look of consideration, she nodded a little and said, “You’re right.” She held the clothing to her chest and stood up, then hesitated for a moment before she slowly reached out her hand between the bars. He knew the gesture. How many times had Quill tried to use it when he was growing up? “I'm sorry. Thank you.”

Yondu's gaze flicked from her face to her hand. Was this some kind of trick she was planning? Well, if it was, it wasn’t like he couldn’t subdue her, so he reached out and firmly grasped her hand, giving it a brief shake. Her palm, like every other Terran’s, was so much softer than his, free of callouses and scars. The barely-scabbed, skinless patches on her wrists where the rope had been tied too tightly and left for several days looked nasty, though. “There’s food for you, too,” he added, pressing the bag into her hand as an excuse to release it sooner. Definitely jerky, but she couldn’t tell what sort of meat it was. “I figured them Sakaarans didn’t feed you none.”

“They didn’t,” she confirmed, quickly withdrawing her hand. That was the first gesture of something other than aggression or possession that she’d had in days. “How long should I make it last?”

He let out a bark of laughter. “Girl, don’t act like I’m going to make you go a week without eating. We’re pirates, sure, but Ravagers got a code.”

“Let me guess: part of it involves not letting cargo starve?” For the first time, she actually looked him in the eye and cracked the smallest edge of a smirk.

“And not lettin’ it die of something as stupid as a fool infection. One of the boys’ll look at your arms.”

“Are you planning on letting me out, then?” she questioned.

The joking air evaporated at once and gave way to the annoyance again. “Now, what in the _hell_ gave you that idea?”

“Well, these look like the clothes the rest of your crew is wearing, fire symbol on the sleeve and everything,” she replied, looking back down at the insignia emblazoned on the jacket. “You’re making me blend in with them, which makes me think you don’t intend on keeping me in here forever. Or, on the other hand, maybe you just don’t want anyone else to know about me, and this disguise gives you an excuse if anyone sees me. Maybe I’m just a rowdy crew member who is being punished for some slight that you’ll invent on the spot.”

He gave her an appraising look from tangled braid to dirt-toed shoes. “We- _hell,_ look at that. I got me a Terran who ain’t entirely stupid.”

“Ooh, talking about me like you _own_ me?” she chided, cocking an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure you’ve got to earn that privilege, sir.”

He repeated, “Watch it.” Only this time, there was a lingering grin on his face. “You’re still technically our prisoner until further notice. Now eat. You’ll get somethin’ else in the morning, and maybe I’ll have decided what to do with you.”

“Aye-aye, Captain.”

After a half-hearted, nearly mocking salute, Selina watched him walk away while she leaned against the bars. So, he liked his women snarky and assertive? Good. That would come in handy.

Just as Yondu had promised, she received another visitor an hour later in the form of the first-mate, carrying a dubious-looking glass bottle full of clear liquid and a roll of bandages. He was the only one who looked relatively friendly and  _didn't_ make her think that she was about to get felt up.

"Are you the one who's going to fix me up?" she asked. She had picked out a new corner towards the back of the cell that still allowed her to see anyone who walked by, slowly eating her jerky. Starvation made it taste amazing and kept her too engrossed to notice the space pirates who passed her and made the occasional rude comment.

"That's what the Cap'n said, anyhow," he replied with a bit of a giggle. "I'm the only one what’s any good at rollin' bandages. C'mere, girl, let me take a look."

"My name's Selina," she corrected as she picked herself up from the ground and approached the bars, but she was kinder about it to him than she had been to Yondu.

"Kraglin Obfonteri," he replied back. "Roll 'em up."

She had thrown on the leather jacket for warmth since a wifebeater did very little to keep out the chill and the only songs she knew to help keep warm would either accidentally set fire to something or make an unsuspecting bystander lose their minds, and the jacket was far too long in the sleeves and wide in the shoulders. Clearly, it was made for a larger woman. But she was eager to tug up the sleeves.

Until he poured the liquid over her raw wrists, anyway. It burned and she yelped, trying to yank herself out of his grip.

"Oh, calm down," he said smoothly, never once letting up. "Terrans are such sissies. This'll kill any bugs that you might've caught, of _course_ it ain't gonna feel too good going on."

"This is _way_ worse than the stuff we use on Earth..." she mumbled with a wince.

"Well, you ain't going back there, so you'll have to make do with what we've got." He gave her an encouraging sort of smile and wiped the remaining liquid away from her stinging flesh, then began wrapping the bandages securely around each wrist. She instinctively tugged away from that, too. "Don't worry, I'm not tyin' you up or nothing."

She flushed a little out of shame and tried to cover it up by giving him a quizzical look. "... I didn't think you were."

"Part of you did," he replied, not fooled in the least.

"How can you tell?"

"'Course I can tell," he chuckled. He might have sounded stupid, but he wasn’t. Not really. "Everyone what's ever been a slave or a prisoner don't like it none."

She snorted a little but settled down for him. "I've only been a captive for a week. Or two. I'm not sure."

"Don't matter how long, you hate it just the same." He gave the back of her hand a light, playful tap when he was finished and looked back up at her. "You'll be out soon. I know there ain't no bounty on you anywhere, I looked."

"But Yondu said you were going to sell me to the highest bidder," she replied with a slight frown. "So releasing me if I'm just going to be a slave-"

"Naw, we don't deal in slaves." Kraglin shook his head firmly and almost looked proud that their code had some sort of morality clause. "Money's good, but the Cap'n can't stand to do it."

"But he said-"

"He was just bein' funny. It's his way. We ain't gonna sell you, Selina. Don't rightly know _what_ we're gonna do with you, but don't you worry about bein' no slave."

Her eyes were bright but watching him cautiously all the while. She rubbed idly at her wrists - they did already feel much better than before - and mulled over what Kraglin was telling her. So, if they weren't going to throw her into some Earthling - Terran - _whatever_ \- market, then what was going to happen to her?

And how much easier had her job of staying alive and going back home just gotten?

"... Thank you for all your help, Kraglin," she finally said, and even returned his smile. "And for telling me that. I feel... _much_ better, actually."

"Aw, waren't nothin'. 'Fraid I don't have much for your face, though." That, too, had been rubbed quite raw from the gag's mask. "Ravagers like havin' tough skin."

"It's fine. Can I have some more of that, though? I'll put it on myself." She was gesturing to the bottle; though it felt awful, she knew it would still help. _It's better than nothing_ , she kept repeating to herself over and over again as she dabbed the burning solution around her chin and jawline, trying to keep it away from her lips. "Gods, that's awful. What is it?"

"Centraxian starshine," he snickered. "So you know it's good."

She didn't like the way he said that and chose not to question him further. If it worked, it worked. Much like the jerky, it wouldn't do her any good to learn about its origins.

Handing him back the bottle, she said, "So, what do you do around here, Kraglin?"

"I'm the Cap'n's first mate," he told her proudly, tapping his fist against his chest. "Mostly I control navigatin' and flyin' the _Eclector,_ but I'm his right-hand man for everything else."

"You could probably tell me everything there is to know about this ship and the Ravagers, couldn't you?" she guessed with a smile, trying very hard to make it look sweet through her exhaustion.

"'Course I could."

"... Will you?"

He looked surprised, but she was honestly curious - she _needed_ to know everything she could about his clan. The reasons behind it didn't seem to concern him, as he just sat down across from her on the other side of the bars. "Well, sure I can, but I might get to ramblin' a while."

She grinned helplessly and rested her cheek against one palm. "Trust me, I've got all the time in the world on my hands right now."


	2. Bargaining Cargo

_//Excuse me/_  
_And I might drink a little more than I should tonight/_  
_And I might take you home with me if I could tonight.//_

* * *

 

It wasn’t a secret that the Ravagers weren’t exactly the most well-groomed, but they _did_ have access to relatively clean water. Selina and Kraglin had taken a liking to each other from opposite sides of the bars, so he was the one who took it upon himself to escort her to a bathroom in the small hours of the morning before the rest of the ship woke up. She liked that he talked and filled the time after so many days of silence and living inside her own head. He liked that she listened and was curious for more.

Though she had to admit, the shower was better than having company. _Much_ better. Actually, it was quite possibly the most warming, luxurious thing she had experienced in her entire life. How had she never learned to properly appreciate a good shower in all her years?

“ _Loving you isn’t really something I should do. Shouldn’t wanna spend my time with you. Well, I should try to be strong-”_

“You know,” Kraglin called out; he was guarding the door on the other side, sitting on a stool and tapping his foot wildly out of beat with her voice, “The Cap’n says I shouldn’t be lettin’ you sing.”

“Then the captain can stop me, himself!” Selina yelled back.

“I wouldn’t be sayin’ things like that if I were you,” he laughed. “He might take that as a personal challenge.”

“Listen, if I get showers out of it, then I’ll let that blue ruffian take whatever challenges he might like.”

"Dangerous words, there, Selina."

Of course, she would only be brought to saying things like that under the influence of scalding, steaming, lovely water. When she’d asked about how long it would take for the hot water to run its course, Kraglin had only chuckled - he thought it would be funny for his crewmates to be shocked by icy showers and encouraged her to use whatever she wanted for however long. There, unfortunately, wasn’t much in the way of soap, but just getting to rinse away the grime was enough to make her feel human again and she could almost imagine that she was back home when she closed her eyes and sang.

_“I should try to run, but I just can’t seem to. ‘Cause every time I run, you’re the one I run to.”_

Of course, it would never have stayed between them for long. She was far too loud, and the captain was listening specifically for her now that he knew he had a Vahkyl-like entity on board. Though, he did hear that the voice was, again, different: gone was the spine-tingling chill, and he guessed that it wasn't the kind of singing that could put someone under her spell. When Yondu came treading down the hall he said nothing but still lifted his sparse brows at Kraglin. Rules were still rules. The gesture was returned, and Kraglin leaned back against the wall, holding up a finger. _Observe_.

“I really don’t think singin’s a good idea if the Cap’n told you not to,” he insisted.

“Like I said, that big, blue, arrogant lout can come in here and try to stop me if he has such a problem with it.”

That just made Yondu burst into a hearty, raspy laugh. _Lout_. Honestly. “You know damn well why I don’t want you singin’ in there, girl,” he finally said, revealing himself. “Or anywhere else. You’ve barely been on my ship a day, and you’re already causin’ my first mate trouble?”

Silence was her answer for a moment; she hadn’t been expecting him to actually come by while she was still bathing, and he figured that she was probably hoping he wouldn’t make good on her dare. After a moment or two, the water stopped running and she finally grumbled back, “I’m not causing anyone any trouble, see? Kraglin's perfectly fine.”

“I’d hope so. It’s a piss-poor way of repaying us for takin’ you in.”

“You mean taking me prisoner.”

“One that we feed and let clean herself and _speak_ -”

“And force to stay behind bars while you threaten to _sell her_.”

For the entire exchange, Kraglin kept glancing between the doorway of the showers and Yondu’s face, hiding his own grin. It was fun, getting to listen to someone sass the captain the way that Selina did.

The look on Yondu’s face when she finally stepped out was quite amusing, too.

“... you sure don’t _look_ like a prisoner,” the captain said, eyeing Selina up and down. She had put on the uniform, and it was obviously ill-fitting for her lithe frame. The shirt was the only thing that really worked properly, even if it was a little tight, but the sleeves of the jacket had to be rolled up to the elbows and several inches of pants were tucked into the boots she’d been issued. On top of that, the belt was the only thing holding anything up. With her hair detangled, degreased, and rearranged into a damp plait, she could have passed for the cleanest, most straight-laced Ravager woman in the galaxy.

"That was the point of the outfit, wasn't it?" There must have been something about the way he was looking at her, because she added, “Eyes up here, Captain.”

"I'll put my eyes wherever I want 'em," he grunted back, and it was satisfying to see that her cheeks had flushed the faintest shade of pink. For all her talk, it seemed that she wasn't accustomed to being looked at by men and he planned to exploit that. "And you'd better get used to it. We haven't had a woman in the clan for a long ass time and you're not that tough. Some of the boys'll be starin' at you left and right at _best._ "

"Then I'll teach them not to," she muttered simply, winding a fresh bandage around the wounds on her wrists.

"How do you propose to do that? Anyone on board could knock you out cold without hardly tryin'."

"I still remember the words to the _Macarena_. If anyone touches me, I'll make them dance until their feet bleed."

"No you won't, because we had a deal," Yondu reminded her, making his voice take a turn for the sharp. It didn't matter that he had no idea what that song was. "You don't make my crew do nothin' with that warblin' of yours, and I don't find another gag to fix to your face."

The mention of having her mouth bound again shut her up and wiped away the cocky look that she'd been wearing. "... Yes, captain," she said softly, and a little thrill went through Yondu's spine to hear it.

"Good. We understand each other."

So why did he feel bad for threatening her with a muzzle this time?

Kraglin cleared his throat and rubbed his thumb beneath his nose, awkwardly shuffling his feet. This had turned from funny to painful in seconds flat. "Uh, so I'm gonna go back to the cockpit to make sure we're still goin' in the right direction..."

"Take the girl," Yondu suggested. "If she's gonna try to pass as a Ravager, it'll be more believable if she knows a little somethin' about the ship she's ridin'. Ain't foolin' _no one_ with just them clothes."

"Really?" Selina still didn't want to look at him, so she turned her bright, curious gaze to Kraglin, instead.

"Aye, Cap'n." Kraglin tapped his fist to his chest twice and then cast a small grin towards Selina, who returned it and willingly went after him, already starting to pepper him with questions that he was more than happy to answer. Stars, Yondu had allowed another idiot onto his ship, and now the pair of them would be worse than a gaggle of giggling girls.

... He should follow after them. Just to make sure nothing happened when the rest of the crew saw them.

It was a good thing he did, or else he would have missed the look on her face when she saw the cockpit as they flew by a passing nebula. “ _Woah_ …” she breathed, setting her hand on a rail while Kraglin and Yondu both walked by her and took their seats.

“Never been in a spaceship before, have you?” Kraglin tittered. “You Earthers…”

“I was never all that interested in space, actually…” she murmured back, resuming her steps at a much slower pace, and she sounded as if she regretted the long-seated sentiment. “I preferred stuff that was already sitting on the planet I lived on.”

Kraglin snorted, “Sounds boring.”

“Terrans ain’t bright enough for space travel,” Yondu grunted, adjusting the Troll that sat on his console.

“Oh, like you could come up with and then engineer an entire spacecraft like this,” Selina berated. “You’re… you’re just a Terran car hobbyist.”

“Girl, I would watch that mouth,” he muttered. “This ain’t no low-tech Terran contraption.”

“Whatever you say,” she cooed back, and dropped into one of the chairs behind them. “Where are we going in this fine spaceship that’s definitely not a car?”

“Xandar,” Kraglin replied before his captain could. “All that stuff we took from that Sakaaran ship where we got you belongs to a fella who wants to pay us for its safe return.”

“I thought the Ravagers were pirates?”

“Pirates, mercenaries, bounty hunters, thieves…” Kraglin shrugged. “Whatever pays, really. Especially since the Cap’n’s apparently thinkin’ ‘bout buying a _Vahkyl_.”

“I ain’t never said that,” Yondu snarled, but the damage was done and Selina was frowning to herself.

“What was that word?” she pressed thoughtfully. “... _Vahkyl?_ I… remember those others using that word after I was captured. What does it mean?”

Kraglin missed every hint that Yondu was trying to give him to _not_ tell her. He didn’t want Selina running her mouth around anyone on or off the shift, lest they get ideas about selling or kidnapping her when it might not even be true. But the look of realization dawned on her face, and she quickly leaned forward. “Wait, that’s what they were!” she hissed. “They called me _Vahkyl_. They think I’m one of them because of my power!”

“But you’re not,” Yondu snapped, turned to flash her a stern look. “You’re just a weird little Terran girl with a useless talent to make people go stupid and slack-jawed, got it?”

She wanted to argue, but she caught something behind his expression that stopped her from doing so. He… was he worried?

Kraglin ruined it, though. “I ‘unno. Could be you _are_ a Terran Vahkyl, Selina. Xandarians and Vahkyl mix, Terrans and Xandarians mix - could’ve happened somewhere down the-”

“Will you shut your yap and focus on steering the damn ship?” Yondu rebuked angrily. “Enough of this _Vahkyl_ bullshit, I’m tired of hearin’ about it.”

“Got it, Cap’n.”

He could feel Selina’s eye roll and he didn’t care. Let her be pissy. If she couldn’t see the bigger picture, that was her fault.

Though now that she was off the subject of Vahkyl by force, she started her never-ending inquiries about Xandar. Who cared? Quill had never asked nearly so many questions. But he’d grown up with it all, and Selina was clearly just as ignorant as any other Terran adult. The curiosity, Yondu supposed, was natural - but _stars,_ was it annoying as hell. Worse still was Kraglin’s indulgence for each and every question. Did he really need to expound on every single thing? So many questions Yondu could have answered with a single word while he flipped through a roster of potential bounty-hunting cases to take, but these two chattering chipmunks…

“I got better shit to do than listenin’ to y’all yammerin’ on,” he finally said, pushing himself to his feet. “There’s an A’askavariian space station on our way to Xandar, I think me’n some of the boys are gonna make a pit stop.”

“Ooh, does that mean I can sit here?” Selina popped up and brushed past him so she could perch herself in his chair, instead, and he frowned angrily.

“No, it does _not_ -”

“Want me to show you how the tractor beam works?” Kraglin asked her with a grin. Both of them were pointedly ignoring Yondu at this point, and he swore that it was just to irritate him, now. “I’ll even teach you how to steer the _Eclector_.”

“Oh my gods, what’s this?” She had picked up one of the figurines that were lined up along the arm of Yondu’s chair and grinned with a delighted chuckle: the little bug made of deep blue jewels. “It’s absolutely _adorable_ , why are these even here?”

“The Cap’n likes ‘em.”

Idiots. Morons. Both of them.

Yondu stormed out before he could listen to any more of their nonsense.

* * *

He didn’t end up returning to the ship until several hours later; the space station didn’t feel too far away at first, but a round-trip already took quite some time and he got caught up in a card game with other shady characters that ended up in a brawl. Of course, he won, and his arrow had claimed a few more lives that wouldn’t be missed. Yondu’s welcome back to the _Eclector_ was raucous as always, filled with more alcohol once he declared to them how much money they’d gotten on their little excursion… really, it was another day in the Ravager clan. He’d almost forgotten about the Terran girl. When he stumbled back to the captain’s quarters, it was with a reasonless grin on his face and soft ache in his legs. It had been a long day. Productive, even enjoyable, but long.

Something rattled just around the corner, where he knew his bedroom was.

The whistle was quick and quiet and the arrow hovered over his shoulder, poised for attack. Who the _hell_ had the audacity to be in his quarters? He kept his footsteps silent, putting his weight into the balls of his feet while he crept forward. He didn’t even flinch when he saw the shadow moving on the wall, or make a sound when he rounded the corner and pressed his tongue to his teeth to give the command-

It was Selina, holding the headphones up to her ear with a small smile on her face. She nodded her head along while she hummed, which slowly morphed into her quietly singing as she looked through the rest of the things on his desk.

_"Take you all the way-_ "

"What the _hell_ d'you think you're doin' in here?" he snapped, making her jump, turn around, and back into the desk.

"I'm sorry!" she gasped, hastily setting down the headphones on his console. Clearing her throat, she looked shyly away from him. "I... I got lost. I was looking for my cell because that’s where Kraglin told me to go, and-"

"And this clearly ain't the brig," he cut off, shrugging his trenchcoat from his shoulders and throwing it onto the chair beside her, then making sure to sheath the Yaka arrow where it belonged. "So naturally, your instinct is to snoop and stick your nose into business that ain't yours?"

"Y..." She sighed and rubbed at the back of her neck. "Yeah. I mean... I saw the music on one of your screens. I didn't know you listened to Earth music."

"Don't worry your little head what I listen to," he told her gruffly; it was his turn for his eyes to skitter away as she dropped into the chair at his console, idly making it spin this way and that. She watched him, and he knew she was waiting for him to say something else. "... It ain't mine," he finally relented. "It belonged to another Ravager. A Terran, like you. He betrayed us and ran off, but we still have clones of his old music."

"Why have you kept them, if he left you like that?" she inquired.

_Because he’s comin’ back. One day._ He was surprised at how gentle her voice sounded and when he looked up he could see that there seemed to be actual concern in her eyes. Shaking his head, he replied quietly, "Just haven't gotten around to gettin' rid of 'em. Don't matter, anyhow."

"Okay."

Yondu was glad she didn't press him; of course he hadn't gotten rid of Quill's music, why would he? But he didn't want to talk about it, either - she couldn't possibly understand. Besides, it was sentimental and silly, and he needed to uphold his reputation as a fearsome space pirate with her. Already, she was too comfortable talking back to him.

"Did you decide what you were going to do with me, yet?" Selina asked, resting her chin on her arms as she readjusted to sit backward in the chair. She could sense his desire to change the conversation.

"Still haven't worked out who the highest bidder-"

"You're not selling me."

He glared; it wasn't that she was wrong, and he didn't care that she was right, but _no one_ told him what he was or wasn't doing. He hated that. "Now look here, girl-"

"Your clan doesn't deal in the slave trade," she continued before he could lay into her. Those _eyes_. They were so bright and certain, holding their own and threatening to pierce into him just as he had intended to do to her. "I already know that much, thanks to your first mate. And no one's looking for me outside of my family on Earth, so there's no bounty from which you can profit. Which means you have to figure out something else."

Yondu held her gaze for a long while before he finally answered, making a mental note to smack Kraglin the next time he saw him. "You're too smart for your own good, girl. I haven't decided, yet, no," he admitted, and then he leaned back a little to give her a scrutinizing look, arms crossed over his chest. "What do _you_ think?"

"I think you should take me back to Earth."

A deep, rasping chuckle rumbled in his chest but didn't seem to put her off. "Oh, _really_ ? And why in the universe would I do somethin' like that? You're a _Vahkyl_ , remember? You're _valuable._ ‘Sides, getting to Terra ain't worth the fuel it takes."

“You’re the one who said I wasn’t a Vahkyl,” she reminded him. Cocking a brow, Selina slipped the boots from her feet, stood up from her seat and crossed the small distance that separated them. One knee braced itself on the fur covering the bed, pressing against his hip and giving her ballast while the other leg swung itself to his other side. He touched her forearm as her hands found his shoulders and she hovered just so over his lap with a cold glint in her eye - not enough to shake him. His other hand found her hip and held her steady to show her that he wouldn't be perturbed by some Terran girl trying to seduce him.

"Vahkyl or not, I can make it _very_ worth your while," she whispered to him, fingertips drawing upward along his neck and settling on his cheek.

Yondu caught her bandaged wrist and murmured back, "Is that right?" She nodded and leaned in but before even their noses could touch, let alone their lips, he stopped her by taking her chin between his forefinger and thumb. "Lower," he ordered in a soft growl. He caught the flash of a smirk before watching her slink from the bed and kneel between his legs on the floor like some kind of cat.

He knew what this was. Though they seemed to be enjoying one another's company in the scant amount of time that they’d spent together, this encounter wasn't born out of affection for one another. She probably didn't even feel attracted to him. He was too old, too grizzled, too ugly for her kind - well, not so much as Taserface, but he had a feeling that _blue_ was hardly her first choice for a partner, and he wasn't going to pretend that he was in the best shape of his life. Selina was cute enough for a Terran, he supposed, and he liked her spark, but emotional attachment... well, when was the last time he really felt anything for someone he fucked? He wasn't stupid enough to tell himself that she'd become infatuated with a space pirate, either. She wanted to bribe him to taxi her back to her home planet, and he never did anything for free.

For a moment, he had been too wrapped up in himself to really register what she was doing, so he stiffened and grasped at her hair when he felt the heat of her mouth press against him, feeling the muscles in his groin twitch and pull as he hardened under her touch. As his fingers tangled themselves into the braided-back locks, she let out a soft, muffled groan and looked up at him with sultry eyes. He could feel it in the way her tongue flickered against the very tip of his manhood and how she put all of her focus in this single part of him: Selina may not have truly wanted him, but she was _desperate_ for the reward he could give her for performing well. She was eager to prove that she was worth the trouble and the fuel.

Yondu leaned back on one hand and groaned, loosening his grip so he could comb his fingertips through her hair while she worked her way along every inch of his shaft, and it occurred to him that she was abjectly refusing to take him into her mouth. Even when her hands affectionately caressed him to make up for the absence of her tongue as it moved from place to place, he knew that it wasn't going to be completely gratifying if she wouldn't do anything more with her lips. The fingers that still gripped her hair released her and slipped down over her temple, caressing her cheek until he could cup her jaw and urge her to pull away.

“I wanna see what else you're offerin’ up,” he murmured, guiding her back to her feet and sliding his hand down her shoulder and side. His red-eyed gaze roamed slowly down her figure, lingering pointedly on her chest as his hand continued on. It only rested when it found the soft curve of her hip and squeezed. “Show me. Go slow.”

Such a simple act of licking him had been enough to darken her eyes with lust, and now when she looked up to listen to his order it was with a cloudy expression that was hard to read. Was she putting on an act, or was she actually becoming aroused?

If not, Selina was a good enough actress for Yondu to ignore it. She stepped back so slowly that it felt like an eternity for his hand to fall from her hip, and a protest nearly burst from him when she turned around, just out of his reach until he saw that she was only doing as he asked. The leather jacket slowly slipped down her shoulders and for every inch of the black shirt beneath it revealed, another inch of her lower curves were hidden. When it reached her waist, her head turned a fraction so he could just see the way her still-injured lips were barely parted. Did the lower one tremble for a moment?

Before he could figure out the answer, the neck of the jacket reached her elbows, once again showing off the gentle valleys of her sides. One arm dropped the jacket altogether and after a beat helped shuck away the other sleeve, leaving the heavy fabric to collapse in a pool at her feet.

The next time her hands moved upward, they caught the seams of her shirt to tug it sharply upward, un-tucking it from the belt wrapped around her too-large pants and giving him a glance of a thin strip of bare skin, so different from his own in color. In that same moment, Yondu suddenly stood up and pulled his own shirt over his head, tossing it carelessly to the side. He was just in time to see the light curve of her spine, and gently placed his hands on either hip so he could feel her warm, soft body for himself, the tip of his member pressing against the seat of her pants.

She paused, pressing her crossed arms to her chest, and she was so small that he had to lean down to whisper in a hoarse voice, “Keep going.”

A shiver rippled between his hands as his breath flooded over her ear and neck. Well, what else could she do? Once the shirt was on the move again, his calloused palms moved upwards in time with it; now things were agonizingly slow for both of them. But it was sweet. She couldn’t bring herself to go any faster. If sleeping with this man was going to be a long-term chore, then she wanted to savor what tenderness there was to be found.

When the thin, black, cotton-like material was covering her head, he pounced. His fingertips dug deeply into her sides and forced her back against his bare chest, quickly gliding from her hips to catch her freshly-revealed breasts while she was still blind and helpless. The rough stubble on his chin scratched at her neck as he traced its length with his tongue, grazing her skin with his jagged teeth. Selina pried the shirt from her head with a soft whimper and his shaft twitched against her buttocks when he drew a sharp gasp from her by pinching and tugging at her nipples. All of her weight was leaning back as she melted against him. Eyelids fluttering shut, she put her hands over his, squeezing to encourage him to continue - be _rougher_ \- and his chuckle vibrated lightly against her shoulder.

“Ah- what did I tell you?” he snickered wickedly in her ear, giving the lobe a nibble. “Keep. Going. _Slow_ . I want to see _every_ piece of my cargo.”

He could feel her heart fluttering in her chest like a panicked bird, and he wondered how much of it was fear instead of desire. She wasn’t his first Terran by any means, but he was almost certainly her first Centaurian or even non-human. That prospect alone excited him more, making the muscles in his groin leap again, and he started pressing gentle bites to her neck once more so he could taste her.

Her hands dropped from his and landed on the belt, trying to keep themselves reigned in to unbuckle it slowly enough for him to enjoy while his palms started kneading into her chest. It was gentler than the pinching and teasing, but nevertheless insistent, and it was her motivation to keep herself under control.

The sedate sound of leather slithering against canvas sounded damn near like a violin to his ears because he knew that she was trying her best to follow his instruction - to _please_ him - and it only got worse when he felt the pants shift downward, now held up only by her hands. He wanted _slow_ , and by God, she was going to give him that, even if she had to surreptitiously keep everything in place while prying the button out of its hole and pulling the zipper down a tooth at a time.

Blue fingers snaked down her abdomen and dove down beneath her underwear, sending a sharp, electric thrill coursing through her torso and making her stop again.

"Don't," he breathed, staring down over her shoulder and watching the way that even her breathing paused while his middle digit sought out the source of the intense heat. "What do I keep tellin' you?"

"S-sorry, Captain - _ahn_!" He almost regretted pressing his finger down and back on that very sensitive bundle of nerves he remembered from his last human partner because hearing that word dripping with carnal desire was something he wouldn't have wanted to miss. He grinned against her shoulder when he saw her hands trembling, struggling to pull down while he teased her.

"Good girl," he purred at the moment her pants hit the floor, giving his hand that much more freedom beneath the scant fabric left. "D'you like that?"

She nodded and replied in a soft, breathy tone, " _Yes_."

"Yes _what_?"

Selina glanced back the barest fraction of an inch that was available and lifted a brow, only meeting his gaze in her peripheral vision. Either way, she mirrored his smirk.

"Yes, _Captain_ ," she corrected, and he tweaked her clitoris with a low laugh, relishing the cry that it brought.

"That's it..." he panted. As fun as this had been, he was actively starting to ache now, so he smacked her rear, pulled away from her - making Selina let out a noise of objection - and said, "Finish what you started. Go on." While he backed away, he kept his eyes glued to her and stripped himself of the rest of his own clothing, watching the way her thumbs hooked into her panties and pushed them down, revealing the endearing roundness of her backside.

By the time she was finished and turned around to face him, Yondu was lounging on the bed and lazily stroking himself. He wanted to drink her in, and was glad to see that even her walk to him was slow. The swing of her hips, the stiffness of her nipples, the rosy flush of color on her cheeks, the wetness he could see peeking out at the very tops of her thighs, they were there because of him and his attention and he wanted all of it.

The second she touched the bed, he grabbed her by the waist and forcefully pulled her in, drawing her over him so that the glistening tip of his shaft painted a line along her belly. He leaned back against the headboard so he could sit up while she adjusted, moving much like she had in the beginning so that her knees were pressing in on either side and her hands were clutching his shoulders, the heels of her hands anchored to his chest. The heat was emanating from her slit and so enticing, he insistently pushed down on her hip with one hand to make her sink down. Catching a breast with the other, he squeezed, then pressed his face into her chest to stifle a groan as she eased him inside.

Feeling her hips buckle as she started to grind into him, his hands fumbled and grasped for her ass to help her keep her rhythm, giving him an excuse to bury himself closer against her breasts, the better to feel the bounce - but that caused her to wrap her arms around his shoulders and hold him by the shoulder blades, and he felt the sharp, familiar twinge in his stomach.

She wouldn't have hold of him for more than a second because his immediate reaction was to shove her to the side, and she looked _very_ confused. He huffed and swung himself up, kneeling behind her and digging his fingertips deep into her hips.

"Watch where you put your hands," he grunted quietly. It would be her only warning.

At least she seemed to understand because she gave him what he could only guess was an apologetic look as she tried to wiggle herself against his length. With a sigh, he forced himself to calm his racing heart and allow his cock to slide between her lowest set of lips. She was slick and had felt warm and inviting for those few moments they had been connected - needless to say, he sank back into her. Only this time, he didn't let her choose the pace; he was still irritated and wanted to make a point. Shoving her down by her back and forcing her hips up into a better position for himself, he bore down on her and started to thrust. Immediately he was met by cries and whimpers and he knew that none of them were an act because even for a Terran she was small, and definitely not accustomed to a Centaurian. To feel himself part her tight body and pound out his aggression into her was too sweet a pleasure to deny himself.

An arm left her hips, certain that she wouldn't move from the position in which he'd been pinning her, and instead wrapped around her ribs so that he could hold on to one of her breasts. Yondu could feel her heart racing in his palm with how tightly he cradled her against his chest, and the way she contracted around him spurred him onward. His muscles were coiling deliciously in the pit of his stomach. So much so that he pressed his forehead against the very top of her spine, his breath coming as sharp puffs of grunting air that fell in line with every buck.

Once more, he immersed his fingers in her hair and gave it a sharp yank, bowing her back in a graceful but wanton arch. “Is this what you want?” he growled, never losing his rhythm. “To be my little Terran plaything ‘til we reach Earth?”

“ _Yes, Captain,”_ she hissed almost immediately, shivering beneath him.

“And who else did you offer yourself up to?” he teased meanly, rolling her nipple between his fingers and giving her a particularly sharp thrust.

She yelped, “No one! Only you, only… only _yours_.” The last word dissolved into another moan as the ramming of their groins intensified.

“Good girl,” he gasped, “Good girl, S’lina”

He couldn’t think straight enough for words any longer; his senses were too full of their combined smell, the heat that permeated the air, the sweat that was cooling his back, and of course the tight way she convulsed around him. Oh, she was good. _This_ was good. Plenty sufficient that he found his lips pressing against her neck, hiding his wince from the world when his climax hit him like a load of bricks and spilled itself deep inside Selina. It wasn’t enough to silence the loud moan that echoed through his quarters, but he didn’t rightly care _who_ heard them - let them listen. The boys would know that their guest was his.

If that wasn’t enough, when he rolled off of her and collapsed into the bed, he brought her down with him, holding her indolently against his chest where she let out a light, weak giggle and combed her fingers through her hair to push it out of her sweat-beaded face. He was feeling possessive, and loathe to release her.

“... Do we have a deal?” Selina murmured, voice cracking from the overuse.

Yondu said nothing. When she turned to look at him, she saw that his eyes were already closed. _Typical_ , she thought to herself, and let out a long sigh.

She was going to take that as a _yes_.


	3. Shut Up and Dance

_// He said, "Let's get out of this town /_

_Drive out of the city, away from the crowd." /_

_I thought, Heaven can't help me now. /_

_Nothing lasts forever. /_

_But this is gonna take me down. //_

* * *

 

She was gone with the morning, and Yondu was so alone that he wondered if it hadn’t all been a dream. There had been plenty of those before, and this had been a pretty good dream if he was remembering correctly. He still had his imagination’s rendition of her smell still lingering in his nose and the feel of her skin under his hands. Fingers twitching, he groaned and rolled onto his back, immediately regretting his decision. No, it had _not_ been a dream as the bitter ache in his muscles told him.

It also reminded him that he was really getting old.

But that left a question: where had she gone? If she’d behaved and walked herself quietly back to the brig, he would have actually eaten his fin. There were only so many places she could have gone - or where she would have dared to go - right?

Selina had definitely vanished without a trace; there wasn’t even a scrap of her clothing to be seen, he noted with disappointment.

* * *

If anyone had asked if anything had happened between her and the Captain, Selina could have easily said _Hell, no_ , and been believed at first glance. She had pristinely put herself back together before she left without a single hair out of place and when Yondu cautiously walked into the cockpit, she didn’t look back. Her eyes were glued to the window.

The sky had turned from black and starry to a soft blue studded with clouds, and they could see the capital city of Xandar laid out below in its neat shape in the ocean. Every man in the cockpit had seen it a hundred times.

Selina, who was leaning forward over the back of Yondu’s chair, had not. “It looked almost like Earth from higher up,” she whispered to no one in particular. Her face was bright and shining - whether with excitement or homesickness was hard to distinguish.

Kraglin heard. “Welcome to Xandar, ‘Lina,” he said with a chuckle. "Home of the Nova Empire."

“And you were born here?” She couldn't bring her eyes away from the window.

“Sure was. Not down there, though. Out in the backwaters of a little fishin’ town."

"Really? Is the whole planet mostly water, then?"

"Pretty much. Everyone lives on the islands." He glanced at her and snickered; she looked like a child, staring at the world outside with eyes as large and round as dinner plates and lifted onto her toes, she was leaning forward so far. He then teased, "And you said you hated space..."

"This isn't _space_ ," she defended with unquestionable certainty, never losing that look of wonder in her eye. "It's a _planet_. There's a difference."

"Planets are a part of space."

"A part of space with an atmosphere and something for me to stand on."

"You ain't gonna be standin' on nothin' that ain't the ship," Yondu finally grunted. He was so busy remembering the previous night that he couldn't take his eyes off of her. Thankfully, she didn't react to the sound of his voice; she must have known that he was there all along.

"Mornin', Cap'n," Kraglin greeted as he always did.

"You're not serious, are you?" she asked tartly. "You can't expect-"

"I expect you to behave like good cargo and stay put and out of sight in the brig," he snapped back. "There ain't any business of yours on Xandar."

"But-" One glare from him - okay, maybe three, that woman could stare down a comet hydra - and she finally huffed petulantly and swung around to drop herself into his seat. " _Fine_."

"Ah, don't worry, we won't be gone too terrible long," Kraglin told her, just as he set the _Eclector_ to "hover." It was far too large a ship to land in the water, so they would have to take one of the M-Ships down to reach the surface. "We got to deliver the stuff we picked up along with you and check in about another job, but we'll be back 'fore you know it."

"Please do," she sighed wistfully. "That charming little brig is getting boring. Bring me back something to do, please?"

It took Yondu a moment to realize that she was blinking up and batting her eyelashes at _him_ , and he glowered down. "Ain't my job to entertain you," he huffed. "In fact-"

"It's the other way around," she finished. "I'll do something quite nice for you when you return if you do~"

He rolled his eyes and gently pushed her back against the forehead. “Just wait in your cell. Kraglin, get the rest of the cargo loaded into the _Warbird_.”

“Aye, Cap.”

But when Kraglin left first, as Yondu knew he would, he paused Selina by grabbing her by the waist and drawing her in close, roughly giving her backside a squeeze and nipping at her lower lip with his rough teeth. “Remember what you told me,” he reminded her in a low tone. “Only mine. Even when I'm away, otherwise you can just forget about gettin' to go back to Earth.”

“Only yours, Captain,” she repeated back with a slow smirk. "Don't worry."

It was an expression he kept burned into a corner of his brain as he stepped off the ramp of the _Warbird_ and walked out to meet the merchant, a rotund Hurcturian who seemed all too relieved to see the Ravager band at his doorstep.

“It’s about bloody time!” he puffed, rushing in to take a quick overview of the returned wares. “It’s been a week! I was half expecting you to not show up at all!”

“Oh, quit your bitchin’,” Yondu snapped. “It’s all here and ‘counted for, now transfer us the credits." The sass earned him an angry little pout, but the man did as he ordered, grumbling the entire time while he fiddled with the buttons on a long, thin, metal contraption he pulled from his sleeve that simultaneously started scanning and checking in every crate the Ravagers carried in. "... you know, we ran into more trouble than we'd originally calculated when recovering these here goods. Ended up gettin' involved in preventing a slave transaction. It _is_ our business policy to add an extra head to our service fee for such occasions."

The merchant looked bewildered and started spluttering on about how it wasn't _his_ fault that Yondu chose to make more work for himself. He knew he would.

"There wouldn't happen to be a _problem_ with our fee, now, would there?" he asked, loudly enough for his nearest underlings to look up and glare at the merchant, who immediately broke out into a cold, yellow sweat.

"Now see _here-"_

 _"_ Two head, actually, if you count in the extra costs we've taken on to keep it housed," Yondu interrupted, giving him a steely, red-eyed gaze. "You'd be wise to wire us the two thousand before I remember any other parts of our business practices."

Just like that, he'd managed to slap on an extra twenty percent to their price, all thanks to the girl he was keeping pent up in his ship.

He eyed the rest of the merchant's wares while his boys hauled everything into the shop's storeroom, fingering things that occasionally roused his interest. There was a pile of musical devices from all over the galaxy in particular that made him stop.

"... Any of these Terran?" he barked at the merchant, who jumped and promptly pointed at a thin, rectangular-shaped thing with wires coming out and hard bits of plastic on the ends.

"They call it a _Zune_ ," the merchant stated haughtily, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's all the rage on Earth. It can hold three hundred clones of music on a single device. Four hundred credits."

"I'll take this, too. As part of the finder's fee."

At that point, the merchant didn't even argue. He just silently allowed Yondu to pocket it, regretting wasting his breath on trying half-heartedly to give him a price. It would make one hell of a welcome-home gift - bribe - whichever it ended up being when Quill inevitably returned.

It only occurred to him afterward that he had entirely forgotten Selina’s request; well, she could have the Zune for the time being. That would entertain her until they reached Earth.

* * *

Somehow, the march to the holding cell was becoming too familiar an instinct; Yondu didn’t give it a second thought, he simply went straight in her direction once the _Warbird_ had been docked back in the _Eclector_ and Kraglin had been given orders to set course for their new destination: Earth. _She’ll be thrilled_ , he thought to himself, and he couldn’t wait to see the look on her face.

Mostly because he liked seeing her grin.

He was very nearly smiling to himself when something off-putting stopped him and placed him on his guard. There were too many noises in the brig: Men grunting, dark laughter, the sound of skin slapping against skin, the occasional muffled choking echoing quietly against the walls.

"See, this be _much_ easier this way."

Taserface had Selina by the scalp and throat while Oblo had his hands planted on her hips to hold her in place, alternating their thrusts in a twisted rhythm. Her eyes were screwed shut, and Yondu could see that she was holding her breath. Not that she probably could inhale if she wanted to. For the shortest flash of time, he wondered if she had instigated it - but he could see the tears streaming down her cheeks and the bruises beneath his subordinate's fingers.

"Could get the other boys down here now that we know how to shut her up," Oblo panted from his filthy grin.

"T'ain't movin' so much no more, neither," Taserface replied, giving her hair a sharp tug. She winced but could do nothing else. "Probably quieted down when the little slut figured out she liked it-"

A bronze arrow whizzed through his shoulder and sent him stumbling backward, wrenching him out of Selina's throat and throwing him against the wall. Oblo released her willingly, looking terrified at the rage written in Yondu's eyes - especially since another whistle sent the blasted bolt right to his nose where it held itself, just a breath away from piercing his skin. Now that she was no longer being restrained, Selina collapsed on the floor with her limbs curled towards her trunk, coughing and dry heaving heavily and choking down deep, gasping breaths whenever she could.

Yondu ignored her - or pretended to, anyway. Really, the sounds made him that much angrier. "Who gave you permission to touch the girl?" he asked evenly. "Because I sure as hell don't remember doin' it."

Cracking his neck and clutching a hand to his openly bleeding wound, Taserface glowered dangerously at his captain. "She's spoils, ain't she?" he growled. "You ain't the only one what gets a cut. We _all_ get-"

"No one is layin' another hand on her unless I says so," he snapped. "And I _don't_ says so." His red eyes landed on Oblo, who looked like he was about to shit a brick. "Understood?"

At once, Oblo thumped his chest twice and said, "Yes, Cap'n."

But Taserface said nothing. Yondu could tell what he was thinking, and so just after he whistled the Yaka arrow back to his hand, his voice dropped into a near-whisper. "If I ever catch wind of you so much as _lookin'_ at her the wrong way, you'll get an arrow right between them eyes. Are we clear?"

If they were, Taserface didn't say. He just pushed past Yondu and stormed off with Oblo in tow. Yondu watched and made sure they were gone before he looked down at the shaking ball that was Selina against the wall and reached out to her. She violently twitched away, making him regret not breaking any limbs.

"I ain't gonna hurt you, 'Lina," he told her softly. "Come on, get up."

On shaking legs, she pushed herself up, using the wall for support so that she wouldn't fall over again. The collar of her shirt had torn from being yanked down, so when she pulled it back up there was still a large part of her breast still exposed. The pants, thankfully, were still intact, but as the belt was nowhere to be seen, she had to hold them up with her hand; the other was busy clutching her shoulder, a sad attempt at "hiding" herself defensively. He shrugged off his trenchcoat and handed it to her, which she immediately wrapped tightly around her body like a cocoon. He had expected crying of some volume, but there was none. She simply sniffed and pawed at her face, keeping her head down while they walked.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She only nodded.

"... You sure?"

Another nod.

He didn't push it any more than that; he wasn't asking out of a place of caring, anyway. He could see it on the faces of his other crew members when they walked by, heading towards his quarters. When Selina was with Yondu, even two feet apart, she was very clearly his.

He brought her to his quarters where she sat down on the bed immediately, still covered in his coat. Now that they were alone, she reached up and touched her neck where Taserface had left his mark. There were other bruises, he had seen them, but those were the most easily accessible. He sat beside her, keeping an inch of space between them.

"You can stay here 'til we get you back to Earth," he told her. The brig was too easy for someone else to get to her. "But don't leave 'less you're with me or Kraglin." He, at least, could be trusted.

"Got it," she replied in a broken whispered. Not even a word of protest. He knew her better than that; she'd go right back to wandering around by herself once the day was done. He turned to watch her rub her palm over the sore spot over and over. "I couldn't breathe," she added after a moment. "... I couldn't _move_."

Had he ever forced himself on a girl before? He couldn't remember. If he had, it hadn't been for many years, not since before he'd met Stakar. After that, whatever he couldn't convince to sleep with him, he simply paid for. But he had no idea what it would have done to the girl. Watching Selina made him feel nearly guilty.

"... They ain't gonna touch you no more," he said, and slowly - awkwardly - put his arm around her shoulder.

She sat as perfectly still as a block of ice beside him. "It's always been like that," she breathed; gods, it hurt to speak. Her lips were red and raw all the way around from having to put up with Taserface's particular brand of rough treatment, mostly because he had reopened the patches that had been left behind by the masked gag. "I can't take having my mouth obstructed. I'm sure it's because of my most useless superpower."

He sighed and looked down at his knees. "... I can't let no one touch my back," he admitted quietly. He'd never told anyone before and he hadn't intended on doing it now, but she wasn't going to be around much, anyway. Besides, if she hadn't had a distaste and distrust for his crew before, she did now. Who was she going to tell? "Before I was a Ravager, I was a battle slave for the Kree empire. I got scars on my back an inch deep that still ache."

It was her turn to study him. Well, that was one unimportant question answered for her. She gave him a halfhearted, wry smirk and tried, "Is that also why you're not a kisser?"

A sudden, staccato series of wheezes through his nose served as his laugh."Nah, I got other reasons for that."

"That's alright. I'm not one for it, either." She gently leaned in to nudge his shoulder with her own. "... Thank you."

The hand that had been on her upper arm traveled upward to rest against the side of her head and turn her face up towards him. A spark of the usual cockiness had come back to his eyes. "Hey, no one touches my cargo unless I let ‘em. And I won’t."

"Good. I'm a one-man sort of product, anyway."

That time, he actually laughed and leaned in until their noses were practically touching. "Don't look at me like that," he growled playfully. "Otherwise I'll change my mind about letting you stay here for the night payment-free."

"I'll make it up to you tomorrow," she promised with a tired smile. "With interest."

"I'll hold you to that, 'Lina."

Her head dropped forward so that her brow was resting against his shoulder; by far, it was the most affectionate gesture they had shared, and he couldn't bring himself to pull away. In fact, he didn’t; she was the first to straighten up with a soft sigh and roll her head around her neck to loosen the tense muscles.

“I will require another visit to the showers,” she told him, getting to her feet. The moment had flown away somewhere in the last few seconds.

“You  just took one.”

“And now I need another. Your employees are disgusting, and I fear there’s not hot enough water in the _universe_ to scrub it away.”

He rolled his eyes. “Women…” Not that Aleta was this prissy. It was really more like _Terran women_. He waved a hand towards another shoddily-made metal door set into the other wall. “I got my own. Go ‘head and use it.”

“Thanks.” That being said, she immediately started to pull her shirt up and over her head while she carefully crossed the room to reach the door, draping it over the back of his chair while she let the pants fall to the floor and collapse in a puddle at her feet. There was no reason to be shy. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen any of it before.

It only occurred to him afterward that she was beginning to turn into a sort of pet, and that was only after she reemerged, dried herself off until the only dampness left was in her loose hair, and curled up beside him beneath the fur cover spread over his bed, resting her head on his shoulder. She had no choice but to trust him implicitly even though it was clearly unwise to do so, or perhaps she just realized that if she kept him happy, regardless of what else happened, he would still take her home. But if she complained too much, or displeased him...

Was he really _that_ terrifying after only a couple of days?

His instinct was to shrug her off of his shoulder, but when he tried she only grumbled and resumed her cuddling, leaving him to lie on his back with his shoulder pinned down by a girl he could easily lift and toss across the room. One who had an unmistakable tenseness in her limbs.

Fear.

It wasn’t meant for him, but he was clearly meant to calm her. With an irritable sigh, he curled his arm up and around her shoulder.

"See?" she murmured sleepily, letting her warm breath tickle over his neck. "You're a damned teddy bear."

He grunted, "Say that one more time, and you're gettin' blasted out the cargo hold."

"Anything you say, Captain."

* * *

The weight on Yondu’s shoulder was strange.

The hand on his cock? Less strange and more _surprising_.

Mostly it was because for all intents and purposes when he cracked open an eye he saw that Selina was still cuddled against him and seemed to be sleeping still. But her fingers were gliding gently along the length of his flaccid shaft; maybe intending to change that, but equally likely to not. Her touch was so delicate, it was hard to tell. Purely for curiosity’s sake - of _course_ \- he didn’t stir. He wanted to see how far she was going to take it.

Actually, she kept on that route for quite a while, letting her fingers dance back and forth, back and forth along his leathery skin in a smooth, fluid, continuous motion. She did reach the tip on one of her passes and paused to focus all of her stroking attention there. That finally made the muscles of his groin twitch.

He felt her cheek push against his shoulder and he could tell that she was smiling to herself now that he was starting to harden. Minx.

A groan escaped him, but she finally shifted and propped herself up on her elbow, purring out a quiet, “ _Shhhh_ …” Without another word, she slipped beneath the fur and her hand moved with her, trailing along his upper thigh.

He jerked suddenly and sat up when he felt something warm and wet lapping at the underside of his cock, then forced himself to relax and lean back against the headboard to let her do what she wanted, reaching below to stroke her hair. Knowing what he did, he was expecting her to not use her mouth properly - which was why he was further surprised when he felt her hand return to enclose the tip in a fist and stroke. _Hard_. All the while, her tongue kept massaging the root, bathing him in her heat. Every now and then, she would change her pattern, her rhythm, slowing until she had nearly stopped entirely or focusing only on one area before returning to the original horrifically, beautifully hard beat.

Actually, he was amazed at how close she was bringing him with just her hand; perhaps it was something she’d worked on with other partners since she was so unwilling to utilize the entirety of her mouth. But would it be enough to bring him the rest of the way? “S… ‘Lina,” he muttered, with every intention of asking.

“Cum on my face.”

She had moved the fur out of the way so he could see her, and holy _shit_ the look on her face was stunning. Holding his shaft against her cheek while her hand kept moving, she locked her lust-filled, wanting gaze onto his and pressed her tongue heavily against his flesh. It put the image in his mind of doing just as she wanted, of letting himself go and covering her pretty complexion with his fluids, or even forcing her to take him right down her little throat and fucking her until-

“ _Oh, hell_ ,” he groaned, gritting his teeth as the orgasm punched him in the gut and sent his seed pulsing out across her cheek, nose, and forehead. Her coy little chuckle fluttered in his ears and he finally opened his eyes again to see her wiping off his semen and then licking it from her fingers.

“Good morning, Captain,” she tittered warmly.

He sighed and rubbed his face with one hand, the other still caught up in her hair. “... Damn, girl,” he panted, holding her by the hip when she straightened up between his legs. “That’s one helluva way to say it.”

“I told you: I owe you.”

She finally got out of bed and started to rearrange her hair back into its usual style, but he couldn’t get himself up just yet. He was barely even awake, and he already felt drowsy again. He didn’t even care that she was starting to poke around his things again.

“Did you pick up anything cool while you were on Xandar?” she asked; why did she try to strike up such asinine conversations?

“Found a Terran music player,” he replied, stretching out his legs while he rebuttoned his pants. “Lower left pocket in my coat.”

"Oh, my gods, it's a Zune.” He glanced her way to see Selina staring at the little machine before she starting pressing buttons and snickering to herself.

"Junker said it's what everyone's listenin' to on Terra," Yondu told her, puzzled by her reaction. He frowned and finally brought himself to swing his legs over the side of the mattress and push himself standing. "Got three hundred songs on it-"

"Trust me, Captain, _no one_ owns a Zune on Earth," she corrected, flicking the screen with her thumb so she could scroll through the music. "It's all about iPods - well, iPhones, now, but they're the same thing really. And neither of them are _Zunes_. What possessed you to get it?"

He shrugged. "Remember that boy I told you about? He likes all them Earth songs. And when he comes back to the fold, he can have it."

"You really think he's going to return to you?" she asked. "Kraglin's told me a bit more about him. _Guardian of the Galaxy?_ That's one hell of a title to be holding. No offense, but it doesn't really sound like a space pirate."

"Yeah, well, he is. And he'll be back. He always is." Though this time, Yondu severely had his doubts.

She turned up the volume and her head immediately started bobbing in time with the rhythm, a smile slowly plastering itself on her face. "Oh, wait, I know this song."

He knew that look in her eye. "Don't-"

"Oh, come on, it's a good one." Selina moved closer to him and popped one of the little round bits out of her ear, then shoved it unceremoniously into his own after he tried to duck away.

Terran music was so... _ugh_.

But her singing was nice and her hips gently rocked from side to side, enticing him. Her hands caught his and tried to coax him into moving along.

" _Don't you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me_ ," she trilled happily. " _I said, 'You're holding back.' She said, 'Shut up and dance with me.'"_

He didn't dance. He wasn't a dancer. Yondu just stood there like a pillar while she tried unflinchingly to get him to play along, tapping her foot - wait, that was _his_ foot.

 _Damn it, Selina_.

"You're doing it again," he warned her softly over the sound of her warbling, but he made no moves to stop it.

" _Shut up and dance with me,"_ she sang with a laugh. She pulled away and twirled beneath his hand, clearly not realizing what exactly he meant by that.

"Seriously, I don't dance-"

"Of course you do," she brushed off while the music continued playing in their ears, coming back to him from her spin and landing with a hand on his shoulder. "Everyone dances."

"I know several kinds of people from other planets who would disagree with you," he retorted, but his hand found her waist anyway and he was forced to shift his weight from foot to foot. It was extremely slow, though, still in time with the music but not nearly as fast as what she'd been trying to do. If she was going to force him to dance, he'd do it at his own pace.

" _A strapless dress and some beat up sneaks, my discotheque, Juliet, teenage dream._ "

Was she purposefully ignoring him, or did she truly not realize that she was using her voice to control him? Kraglin's words came to mind again: _When they get all worked up, it turns into music._ What was working her up this much, if she couldn't contain it? She couldn’t still be upset about the day before, right? She wouldn’t be smiling. That would be trying too hard, even for her. He tried to seek out the answer in her expression, her eyes, but all he could see was a playful spark and it made his skin crawl.

"Seriously, knock it off," Yondu insisted as he lifted a brow. "Or else I'll have to shut you up the _hard_ way."

In that moment, her voice died. An odd, guarded look came over her and he immediately realized what he had said once she released him and turned away, beginning to wrap up the cords of the earpieces. His face fell. Well, if she hadn’t been thinking about the incident from before, she sure was _now_.

"Now... now don't get like _that_ , I didn't mean it that way," he defended, sounding cross. He was such a jackass.  "Hey-" His fingertips caught her by the hips and stopped her from walking away entirely, allowing him to catch up and pull her back against his chest. God, why was she so _stubborn_? “... Listen, I didn’t mean it.”

“Then why’d you say it?” she muttered.

“‘Cause that’s what I’d say to any chick!” _Obviously_. But it wasn’t so apparent to Selina.

“Because I’m like _every other chick_ and can’t stand to be gagged-”

“I’ve known you _three days_ , girl.”

She threw up her hands and turned around to bore her gaze into him. “You’re right. You’re right.” Damn it all, he couldn’t tell if she was being serious or sarcastic. The two blended together so easily. “I asked you to take me back to Earth. So long as you get me there alive and in one piece, it’s… not unreasonable.” There it was: _Yes, yes it is indeed unreasonable. But stop arguing, Lina_. He could see her bickering with herself, especially when her arms fell back to her sides and she studied the Zune still in her hands. “... Especially not if you’re… you’re just joking.”

“I-” His sentence stopped in its tracks when he saw the cautious hope glimmering back at him when she gave him a wary, upward glance. Instead of boasting he could do whatever he damn well pleased, he told her, “... I was, yeah. Of course. I like spirit. Ain’t no sense in breakin’ it.”

The Zune went to the desk and she held herself near the window, looking out at the stars. The anger and hurt were gone for the most part, but he knew the damage had been done; she wanted nothing more than to be back home, away from the _Eclector_ and the alien Ravagers. Even when he pulled her back into his arms and starting nuzzling her neck, gently caressing her every curve and setting his teeth to tickling her skin; when he succeeded in tearing her clothing away, pulled her into the bed again and let her straddle his hips; when she spread her legs and mounted him, clutching at his chest like a cat and started riding - her mind, her gaze, every sense was back on Earth.


	4. Dead Girl Walking

_// No sleep tonight for you, better chug that Mountain Dew /_

_(Okay, okay)_

_Get your ass in gear, make this whole town disappear /_

_(Okay, okay!)_

_Slap me, pull my hair, touch me t_ _here and there and there /_

_And no more talking. /_

_Love this dead girl walking. //_

* * *

 

Things had started to return to their tentative state of warm-fuzzies over the next several days: Selina, protected by the modicum of respect the Ravagers had for their captain that prevented them from invading his cabin, began to relax and crack her dry jokes again. No one had dared go near her since Yondu stuck an arrow through Taserface's shoulder, which was having trouble healing, and that seemed to vastly help her mood. So did Kraglin. The pair of them took a particular enjoyment in irritating the captain like a pair of clucking hens.

But then Yondu would bring Selina back to his bed and remind her that if it wasn't for him, she'd be in a glass cage on Sakaar.

Both of them enjoyed those "conversations."

"What are you going to do with yourself when I'm gone?" Selina teased, panting. Her breath tickled at his ear; he'd bitten down into the crook of her neck while he tested her flexibility. He had pinned her to the wall, hiked her knees over his shoulders, and had her wrists cuffed together and magnetically stuck to the wall so he could take her without her putting up a fight. It excited her almost more than it did him.

He growled, "Find another ass to fuck." Loathe as he was to give her up. Actually, her leaving was starting to leave a foul taste in his mouth. He would rather not think about it.

She laughed at his ire rather than let it rile her, which made him that much more irritable. "Admit it, Captain, you'll miss me."

But he wouldn't - he wouldn't _admit_ it, anyway. Not to her, not to anyone. Instead, he pressed his face against her saliva-wet neck. After nearly two weeks with the Ravagers, she was starting to smell like them. Not like the body odor, the sweat, the grime, she still bathed more regularly than any of them, but like oil, metal, and leather. Both biting and comforting all wrapped into one.

 _Why did she have to say it like that?_ Like she could walk away from him so easily?

Why did he give a shit? They hadn't even known one another a month. "I'm not gonna miss that _mouth_ ," he huffed, thinking venomously how lucky she was that he wouldn't gag her for shits and giggles.

Again, she laughed, and it turned into a loud, accidental cry when he ducked down to nip at the erect tips of her breasts. Not another word passed between them until he came, breathing raggedly against her chest with sweat beading like bullets on his brows. He let himself take only a few seconds to recover before he pulled out and knelt beneath her. Selina’s legs dropped and the accompanying ache made her groan again, but they still had to compensate for his mass between her knees.

And his nose pushing its way below the thin cloud of hair that had started growing back on her mound.

“What are you doing?” she chuckled, breaking off into a cackle; his hot tongue tickled her swollen clit, and the sensation was almost unbearable.

“I know you didn’t come,” he grunted. “Now shut up and quit’cher squirmin’.” _Think of it like a going-away gift._

Selina obediently stopped talking and let him go to town. Her arms were starting to hurt again, anyway, like they were ready to pop straight out of their sockets, and she didn’t feel much like teasing him anymore. What was to tease? The tip of his tongue lapped brazenly against her slit, drawing the liquid forward to keep the little bundle of nerves well-lubricated while he-

She gasped when she felt two of his fingers slide into her, inching up and around her walls, seeking out the fabled G-spot that Selina had never been able to find on her own. What was most gratifying about Yondu, though, was that she felt comfortable telling him where to go or what to do. He took suggestions masterfully.

“Farther, farther, right - _ah, fuck, right there, suck harder, please_ -”

It was the fastest he’d gotten her to reach her climax, yet, and he was getting so good at it that Selina genuinely started worrying that she might not be able to find another man who could quite reach the new bar of standards when she inevitably returned home. She gasped out his name several times in rapid succession and violently writhed until his firm hand grasped her hip and pinned her to the wall again, but it didn’t stop her from trying to buck against his face while she rode it out.

She even collapsed in his arms in the end when he released her from her shackles, wearing a blissful, dazed grin on her face. “I think they need to start making them like you back on Earth,” she giggled. “I could almost kiss you for that, Captain.”

It occurred to Yondu that she _had_ gotten sweeter with him as the days passed, but this was the most obvious it had been. She almost started glowing under his attention, and it made him want to see how far he could take it. He almost was starting to believe that Selina was genuinely warming up to him again, that she was having fun in his company, that maybe she wouldn't be in _quite_ as much of a hurry to get back home to Earth-

When he saw the way she stared at the blue-and-white planet when it finally came into view the day they hit her solar system and Kraglin had pulled them into the cockpit for confirmation, Yondu knew he was wrong. His chest ached.

"Can you tap into the global positioning satellites?" she asked Kraglin as they made their way into an M-unit; they needed to keep the _Eclector_ at a reasonable distance, farther away than even the moon. "Then I can plug in my address and direct you."

"What, you can't just point at it and tell me?"

"From an aerial view? _Hell_ , no."

They laughed and climbed into the cockpit, but Yondu walked silently behind them both. He didn't want to sit down. Not even when their ship pulled out of the _Eclector's_ docking bay and flew out like a gnat towards Earth.

"Alright," Kraglin said, punching a few buttons on the dash, "Coordinates locked; let's bring 'er in."

"It's an island," Selina blurted out as if he didn't have the primitive map right in front of him. "Just right off the coast, the bridge isn't even a mile long, but it's still an-"

"'Lina, you really need to chill out."

"I know."

There was a massive cloud bank covering the island as well as a good portion of the mainland's coast, and if it hadn't been there, then maybe they would have turned around and left. But the ship dipped into the thick, white fog, the smile on Selina's face growing with every passing moment, just like the bizarre feeling of dread that Yondu somehow couldn't seem to shake. The ship was only about a hundred yards above the ground when they burst through the clouds and saw the carnage below.

Something had hit the city and hit it hard, like a series of very large bombs. Entire chunks of walls had collapsed on most of the buildings while several smaller, older ones were nothing more than piles of brick and concrete. Smashed cars littered the smashed-up streets, and the destruction became more and more complete as they slowly flew away from the downtown area.

"I'm guessin' your town don't usually look like that," Kraglin said.

Selina had gone pale and collapsed back into her chair, entirely silent as she stared out the window.

"Whoever did it is long gone," continued Kraglin. He was following along the street directions from something called _Google Maps_ , which seemed to have the entire planet routed out. "Ain't no sign of any kind of sentient life over the whole island."

"Well, don't let your guard down," Yondu said quietly. "They could swoop in on us any second."

They turned down a road very familiar to Selina, and when she realized where the concentration of annihilation was leading, she popped up from her chair and ran to the hatch, refusing to see what was waiting for her from behind a window. Maybe there was still hope. The slimmest chance.

Kraglin and Yondu came striding out after her and found that Selina had jogged out only a few steps before she was stopped in her tracks at the sight facing her. "You sure this is your house?" asked Kraglin.

" _Was_..." Yondu muttered to himself.

Selina weakly nodded, shaking like a leaf. "This... my house... I-"

What it was was a pile of rubble for the entire block with scattered bits of car or the odd, ash-blasted refrigerator to really pull the destruction together. Looking for signs of human life - or any life, really - was foolish. There weren't even skeletons to suggest it. Two devastated cars, actually, were crushed and broken in what used to be the driveway, and Selina walked over to them, feeling like someone else must be piloting the legs she couldn't feel.

"... my sister," she said faintly. "My sister, my nephew, they... they were still here, I..."

It came over her slowly: the hyperventilating. The shaking. The numbness, the ringing in her ears, and she stumbled backward and half-collapsed onto a pile of bricks for sitting.

Yondu and Kraglin were picking their way through the wreckage and came across a definitively alien vehicle, chrome and black and just as smash as any car. "Chitauri," Yondu decided grimly.

“The _fuck_ is a Chitauri?” Selina snapped.

Her tone was forgiven and ignored; all things considered, Kraglin was impressed that she was keeping it together this well. "They’re a warrior people,” he explained to them, “Somethin’ like a lizard and a droid rolled into one. Ain’t too bright, but fightin’ them’s like an ant fightin’ a hive of termites. Didn't they already try invadin' Earth?" This last part was said to Yondu.

"Yeah," Yondu agreed with a nod, dropping the machine back to the ground. "Didn't work, neither."

With a frown, Kraglin asked, "Then why-? 'Lina? _Selina._ "

He darted past Yondu, who turned around and watched his first mate catch Selina as she went rigid where she sat, then entirely limp. She didn't completely pass out, she was still conscious, but she was struggling to stay that way.

"Gotta calm down, slow up the breaths," he told her.

She leaned heavily against his shoulder and wheezed, "I know, I know, I ju-" She suddenly covered her mouth and twisted away from Kraglin so she could heave, but whatever wanted to come out was soundly defeated. Selina's hands slipped over the rest of her face and she curled tightly into a ball beside him, doing whatever she could to keep from screaming. The tears, on the other hand, she couldn’t do anything about. Those flowed freely while she concentrated on keeping the rest of her shit together.

While Kraglin held her and let her cry, Yondu looked away. Watching her process felt wrong like he was intruding on something very personal and very, _very_ private. No, Selina wasn’t a particularly strong person in his experience, but she liked to pretend to be and had the fire for it. He hated seeing her like this. But he had no idea how to comfort her. _Sorry your family’s dead, want me to fuck you better_? No, better to keep several feet between them.

It bugged him that Kraglin was better at it. Through some arcane combination of hushed words and one-armed squeezes, Selina managed to settle again to the point where she could at least answer questions in a coherent fashion.

“Is there anyone you can contact?” Kraglin asked. “Anyone who would’ve been on the mainland?”

Selina nodded and took a deep, shaking breath. “My, uh… my parents, maybe, or my aunt. I know Mom’s number, but Aunt Ettie-”

“I can look ‘em up. Just give me full names, we can hack the grid. Earth’s security is shit.”

That made Selina let out a strangled bark of laughter, and then her complexion turned a delicate shade of green once again.  Taking her back to the ship, Kraglin started to hack into the cell phone lines while Yondu searched through the reports, both Terran and intergalactic, to try to find out exactly what had happened.

Selina had more success, first. “Yeah, Aunt Ettie? Hi…”

While she spoke, Yondu flipped through headline after headline. There was very little information: the Earth media reported it as a simple “alien attack” and used it as a chance to bash on the American-based _Avengers_. Where were they, why hadn’t they stopped an entire town from being blasted off the map? There had, apparently, been a metahuman involved, but they weren’t named. Off-planet, the incident wasn’t even mentioned. So few people outside of Asgard paid any attention to Earth, so that was to be expected.

“... No, Ettie, I- … I was out of town.” Selina’s explanation was rocky and disjointed, but it was also true. Even if “out of town” was a little less exaggerated than it should have been. “No. _No_. … Of course not.”

Kraglin lifted his eyebrows and glanced at Yondu when he returned to them. They couldn’t hear what was going on on the other end of the conversation, but it clearly wasn’t going well. And then, by some unholy intervention, the earpiece actually went on the fritz. The voice of a very proper-sounding yet airy old lady split through the quiet.

“- _nice man, I can give you the house in Orreta as a wedding present-”_

Selina’s expression had been growing steadily more beet-color, and now it wrinkled into an angry snarl. “ _Take your fucking wedding gift and buy a fucking graveyard hole to curl up and die in,_ ” she finally shouted over the voice, slamming her hand onto the button to hang up on her. She got to her feet and stormed off and away from the ship again, beating her way down the pulverized sidewalk.

“Lina!” Kraglin called out. “Lina, wait-”

She stopped for a moment, her hands balled up into fists at her side, but she didn’t say anything. Her shoulders heaved once, twice, three times… and then deflated. Her fingers relaxed, and  Selina just... kept walking. Yondu didn't know what to say, or if there was anything he _could_ have said, but he followed her, anyway. She would speak when she was ready. Or not.

They reached the nearest coast of the island, where all that remained of the wharf were tall, wooden poles and splintered boards. Everything else had sunk to the bottom. At least the bridge to the mainland was still intact, stretching on into the grey, cloudy horizon until it connected with the thin line that was the other shore. The beach was littered with driftwood and kelp, but Selina didn't care. She sat down on a weathered, sun-bleached log near a ring of stone half-buried in the sand and stared out at the water.

Yondu sat beside her and waited. For a long time, the only sound was the tide lapping at the sand and the occasional, far-off cry of gulls. Those, at least, were normal, and she couldn't see the destruction behind them.

Eventually, she said, "We used to come out here all the time in high school. We'd have bonfires and drink beer until the sun rose, and sometimes we'd stargaze. I always hated that. It made me feel about as big as a flea, knowing that my life or death would mean absolutely nothing to the universe. Like eight-digit numbers, it's just too... too _big_ for me to possibly conceive. And now I'm sitting here again, back on the beach twelve years later having been abducted by space pirates while my friends and family were decimated by other aliens."

"Lina-"

"I didn't know it was possible to feel _smaller_ than a flea, but I do. I feel tiny, and I feel powerless." Her voice was thick with angry tears that she didn't want to shed, but he could see the way the rims of her eyes turned red and glassy. "My kid sister and her four-year-old son are dead, and where was I?"

"And what would you have done if you'd 'a been here?" Yondu cut in, coolly ignoring the way she glared at him. "Probably woulda ended up dead like the rest of 'em."

"Yeah," Selina whispered. "Yeah, probably. At least I could've gone down trying."

"But you didn't. You were on my ship, with me."

There was a brief pause. "... With you."

_Ouch._

He swallowed. "What're you gonna do now?" Yondu asked, but she shook her head

"I don't know." The whisper was starting to crack and break, so he put an unsure arm around her. Selina stiffened. "My bitch of an aunt said she’d give me a goddamn house if I promised her I’d think about getting engaged to some dipshit kid of her friend’s, and I’ll be damned if I sink that low. But ev... everything I had was here. My job. My family."

Selina's baby sister had just started to come back from grieving over her lover's death. Her nephew had just started learning to read. Small words. Tiny ones. His favorite book had been _The Cat in the Hat_ . He liked the mischievous, titular cat, and sometimes Selina's sister would cry into her wine late at night after he fell asleep midway through a story and she thought no one else was listening, but Selina was listening, thinking that she just needed _time_ , time that neither of them could know she didn't have-

She pulled her wet hands away from her face and wiped them on her pants, ignoring the way Yondu had his nose pressed into her hair. "Thank you for bringing me back," Selina murmured. "You didn't have to do that."

"'Course I did." He didn't know how to articulate that he regretted bringing her back to destruction, but he was sorry all the same.

"No, you didn't." With a great sniff, Selina finally pushed herself from the log and out of his arms, then took a few more steps forward until the cold surf could lap at her shoes. She was already making plans. There wasn't any time to stop because if she did, she would fall apart, and then where would she be? A few months' rent on a cheap studio was sitting in her saving's account, and that was enough time for her to find another job. Even a part-time one to tide her over until she found something more permanent. Something off the island, so that she wouldn't have to think about her family's bones reduced to ash beneath her feet-

The wave of anguish threatened to engulf her, but she cut it down just after a strangled sort of hiccup popped out of her. At least it was a more appropriate response than the urge to sing that was welling up in her lungs. _That_ , she would not do. Selina would sooner break down and cry.

"You could always come back with us."

Selina turned around and saw that Yondu was standing, too, and she frowned. "... What-?"

"I'd have to teach you to use a gun," he continued over her. "And we'll have to walk you through actually livin' in space, maybe have Kraglin teach you pilotin' or something of that nature, but-"

Selina abruptly blurted out, "Your crew's made it _very_ clear that they wouldn't consider me part of your faction-"

"Lina, you ain't got nothing, here." Yondu slowly approached her as he spoke, a determination smoldering in his red eyes that kept the muscles in her legs tense and ready to run. No, _no_ , he wasn't going to say it, was he? "The only thing back there is chaos, and them pieces ain't big enough to put back together. But you've at least got somethin' to work with if you come back to the ship. You ain't the first woman Ravager, and you won't be the last. Where the boys is concerned, you're gonna have to teach them that you ain't someone to be messed with. Defend yourself, show them a measure of spine or maybe even knock 'em down a peg, and they'll leave you be." He was close enough now that he could stroke her hair, made to look dull at the grey and grim seaside. Even her skin looked ashen without the sun. "I ain't even sayin' I think you got potential for bein' a space pirate, but at least you'd have a place."

Selina frowned and looked down at their feet, but didn't pull away. He didn't say what she had feared, thank _God_ , but she heard something similar in his voice. "... Yondu, I never wanted to do that."

"I know. I knew what this was. But it looks like you don't got a lot of options, either." The corners of his eyes crinkled a little, softening his expression, and Yondu added, "I ain't asking for the same arrangement, Selina. You owe me nothin' like that if you accept my offer."

Selina kept her arms crossed protectively over her chest, still holding in the screaming breakdown she so desperately wanted to give in to. She couldn’t think about it. If she formed that perfect picture of her sister and smiling nephew in her head, then she would be lost. Unable to function. She’d curl up on the beach and wait for the tide to come and take her just so she could join them. Yondu’s touch was real, though. That kept her standing.

Her eyes cast around the beach, taking one last, good look of her home planet. She’d never gotten to go to Ireland or Spain, and maybe she never would have. But there were other places to go. Bending over, she picked up a peachy-pink whelk shell, brushing away the stray bits of sand. It would all follow her back to the ship, anyway.

“... Fine. I accept.”

* * *

 

“Sure you don’t want a gun?” Yondu murmured to her, and Selina firmly nodded.

“Definitely. I can do this with my hands tied behind my back.” She would have to. They wouldn’t take her any more seriously for having to hide behind a Yondu-supplied weapon.

The three of them had come back to the _Eclector,_ where Yondu and Kraglin both agreed that Selina would need to make herself a part of the crew. _Fast_. Not just literally, but mentally, too, ingraining herself into the social network. She wouldn’t last very long if she didn’t. She knew it, too, and had made her decision to confront them all first thing, when most of them were milling about in one of the larger, more popular common areas, alcohol in hand and making a deafening amount of noise.

This was the first time any of the Ravagers had seen Selina since she’d taken refuge in the captain’s cabin, and it hadn’t endeared her to a single man. But she met every gaze. _Show no fear_ . _What was the saying? ‘Shoulders down, neck long, think_ murder _, and walk.’_ Of course, when her eyes landed on Taserface, they stayed there. The ugly, scabbed-over wound gave her a deep, deliciously sadistic sense of satisfaction that she knew would have made her sister proud.

 _Her sister_. The thought of her made Selina's stomach lurch.

“What’s the girl doing back?” one of the others asked. “We thought you was leavin’ her back where she belonged.”

“Unfortunately for you,” Selina said calmly, refusing to break eye contact with Taserface, “My plans changed. You boys are looking at the newest member of your little Ravager family.”

There was a _lot_ of laughter, but she expected it, just like she expected Taserface’s slow stand. She didn’t need either Yondu or Kraglin to tell her that _he_ was the one to bite and send scurrying away to gain the respect - or at least fear - of all the others. He’d been the one to force her into submission. The tip of her tongue ran along the edge of her teeth behind her closed lips as she remembered how he’d introduced himself, and she vindictively wished she could have been able to bite hard enough to sever his prick from his body. Scaring him would have to do for the time being.

Wisely, Yondu and Kraglin kept back when their fellow Ravagers made a path for Taserface to approach her. If he expected her to step back and cower behind the captain, then he would find himself disappointed.

His eyes flicked to her feet and then back to her eyes. “... You ain’t got the mettle for it,” Taserface remarked.

  
“Well, lucky for me, I don’t really need your approval.”

A large, threatening finger thrust itself at her to point and it was all Selina could do to not flinch. The last time that finger had been aimed at her, it had been even less threatening. "Just because the cap'n likes your dried-up cunt doesn't make you qualified to be a Ravager."

"No," Selina agreed wryly. "No, it doesn't."

He got closer, the rest of the crew was howling, jeering, trying to help him intimidate her. Selina was ready to run. The muscles in her legs were aching from the constant state of being flexed, and she would hurt later when she finally relaxed them. But first, she had to wait and see what Taserface would do.

At least Yondu was keeping his mouth shut and letting her fend for herself.

As Taserface eventually came close enough for Selina to see the whites of his eyes, she lifted her chin to maintain eye contact and gave him a thoughtful look. “... What kind of a man do you think you are?” she asked him.

“I be a _Ravager_ , woman!” he roared, pounding his chest and making himself look remarkably like a gorilla as he did. “Is that what you want to know? What kind of man fucks some slut living in the cargo bay? The sort of beast who takes enjoyment in a weak, whimpering, pathetic excuse for a creature like a Terran because he can? I be a man who takes whatever the hell he likes, and I likes your fear of me, woman.”

She didn’t look entirely impressed with his speech. "Really? ‘Cause… I think you're a Taylor Swift kind of guy."

"Who-?"

" _I stay out too late!"_ Selina sang out. This time, Yondu heard it again: the echoing timbre that sent creepy shivers crawling up his spine and down his limbs like so many ants, and it was obvious that his crew could, too, from the way they recoiled. " _Got nothin' in my brain! That's what people say, mm-mm, that's what people say, mm-mm-"_

For a moment, Taserface stood there, gape-jawed and torn between the bizarre sense of hypnosis that Selina put people under and the weird fact that she was screeching a Terran pop song at him as her method of offense. Her threatening stance didn't match the carefree tune.

It worked, though. By the time Selina reached the transition into the chorus, Taserface was dancing. She was, too, a little bit, but it was light, restricted, and beautifully mocking.

" _'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play-"_

"Stop this!" Taserface growled. Every single eye was watching him shimmy. Vahkyl powers gave him more grace than he should have had.

" _And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, baby-"_

"I'm serious-!"

" _I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, baby. Shake it off. Shake it off!"_

One of the crew members - Gef - very unwisely pulled his hand on the grip of his holstered gun and glanced nervously at Yondu, who caught the look. He lifted an eyebrow. _Go on_ , he goaded, _See what happens._

Unfortunately for him, he took the dare and pulled the weapon.

" _I never miss a beat!"_ Selina forcefully said, pointing directly at Gef to make him freeze in his tracks. Her eyes were blazing when they locked onto him and made his hips start moving, popping her head from side to side in the same rhythm. " _I'm lightning on my feet! And that's what they don't see, mm-mm, that's what they don't see, mm-mm."_

She danced them through the whole. Damn. Song. All the other Ravagers were too thrown off by what was going on in front of them to do anything to save their friends, and none of them wanted to be subjected to Selina’s power, either. It wasn’t even _good_ music. The worst bit was the physical hypnosis that left the rest of the mind well enough alone. Selina directed both Taserface and Gef into a synchronized dance with one another, even going so far as to make them perform a jaunty swing routine with one another. There were enough ridiculous moves to have the other Ravagers laughing at them for a time.

Until they reached the end, and suddenly Gef was knocking Taserface to the floor and kneeling with one leg on his chest, shoving the gun he had wanted to turn on Selina in Taserface’s mug, instead.

The song stopped and the laughter died, but both of them were still frozen. Gef’s finger was on the trigger. If Selina had sung two more notes, he _knew_ he would have pulled it.

“Anyone else want to debate my presence on this ship?” Selina called out, glancing around the room, and no one else challenged her. She cleared her throat and broke the spell over Taserface and Gef both. Oh, the fury on the former’s face - but also the fear. The tasty, delicious _fear_ . She then added to herself to herself, _Calm down, there, Pennywise_. “Good. If no one else has any objections, I would like to clarify a few things: you are to treat me as you would anyone else on this ship. Be rude. Salty. Be like a space pirate. Whatever, that’s fine. But the second a single one of you touches me without my permission, I’ll have you prance into the airlock, force yourself into space, and foxtrot until you die. Got it?”

No one said anything. Some stared, some couldn’t look at her.

“ _Got it?_ ”

Scattered “Yeahs” chorused among the crew, and they didn’t sound thrilled. Being humiliated by a woman was one thing, but the fact that it was the captain’s whore of the last couple of weeks was what made it awful. They couldn’t do much to defend themselves from her bizarre power, either. At least the display was over, and they went back to what they had been doing; instead of loud guffaws and storytelling, the room was now filled with low mutterings, peppered with plenty of derogatory words directed at her like tiny, invisible darts. That was okay, though, she had expected that much. She could _deal_ with that much. Being touched by anyone other than Yondu, _that_ she couldn’t abide.

With her face set into a look of grim satisfaction, Selina nodded and turned back to Yondu with her hands on her hips, looking for his approval - or disapproval, even. She found neither. His face was cool and even, refusing to give anything away.

“Not how I woulda done it,” he admitted. “But I think you got the point across.”

“Yeah? I hope so.” She allowed herself to look worried - only a little. Yondu wanted to reach out and touch her, to reassure her, but he wouldn’t. Not in front of the boys. “Do you still want to teach me to use a gun?”

“Well, _yeah_. You think I mastered the arrow and never bothered learnin’ nothin’ else?” He jabbed his finger at her, nearly touching her nose. “Guns, flyin’, and how to keep that voice of yours in check. That’s just to start out with.”

“Okay.”

“And you need to learn to throw a punch. You did okay scarin’ the piss out of them, but some of the boys’re gonna try to test their luck again.”

Selina sighed and gave him a smile, tucking a stray chunk of hair back behind her ear and making the expression seem almost shy. It was unlike her, even off-putting. “Whatever you say, Captain,” she told him sweetly. “I owe you.”

“No, you don’t. I already told you.”

Teeth came gnashing playfully at his still-pointing finger and Selina laughed. “I think I do. At least a little, you know?”

Suddenly, he was being tugged back to his cabin. The halls grew steadily more deserted, and in turn, Selina became more and more urgent. She couldn’t wait until they were safely squirreled away, no; she had to push him against a wall without warning and drop to her knees in front of him where literally anyone _could_ (but likely would _not_ ) walk by.

“What in the hell-?

Selina shushed him with a silky, purring snicker. “Shut up and quit your squirming,” she chided, making him prickle.

The annoyance at having his own words set against him was short-lived when she pushed his pants down and went in for the kill. Her tongue was hot and starving to taste him, bypassing the usual slow-and-steady build up. He couldn’t remember her ever having this much excitement before. Was it really the gratitude? Or maybe a habit. The correlation between keeping Yondu sexually satisfied and her being allowed to stay on the ship might be too hard to break immediately. So, too, was his custom to dig his fingers into her hair and pretend that there was something else between them, something more. It was starting to become a dependence, more than a routine. He found himself _needing_ to think that.

She was kissing the head of his cock and then, to his surprise, experimentally wrapped her lips around it. He felt her go rigid beneath his hands and he prepared himself to disengage, especially when Selina pulled away again - but then she jammed the entire thing down her throat, opening her jaw as wide as she could and screwing her eyes shut. Both of them groaned, but for different reasons.

Yondu sank down the wall an inch, maybe two, and he caught her eye, where tears were already forming at the corners. His hand turned gentle and stroked her head, then he told her in a low murmur to relax, but he knew it was hard for her. Doing anything other than sitting back on her heels was difficult when she had so much obstructing her, but damn it if she wasn’t willing to try it. If only once. So he guided her, letting her back out a few inches so she could breathe, and helped her into a rhythm. Once she was used to the sensation, her trembling hands held his thighs, as much as she dared to move them. There was such little strength in her limbs, so little _resistance_. Yondu finally understood how easy it was for his crew to take advantage of her once given the opportunity.

Actually, there was a sharp thrill in knowing that she had _no_ idea what she was doing and that she was breaking a taboo that she, herself, had set. She was putting an extraordinary amount of trust in him. That made up for her lack of skill, whether Yondu realized it or not.

Resistance came when he got too enthusiastic and coaxed her forward, bumping against the back of her throat. He could feel her gag and dig her fingertips into his legs, but she didn’t motion for him to stop.

“‘M almost there,” Yondu said. He leaned his head back and grunted, biting his lip. “Good girl, ‘Lina, just a little more.” His muscles were coiling in his groin, some on the outer edges fluttering and trying to snap him into letting go too early, when he knew his climax wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying as he wanted it to be, but he had to compromise. He didn’t want to put her through her paces. Not this first time.

His backburner concern proved to be unfounded, though, because when he did finally hit his peak and spilled himself in the cradle of her soft tongue, a massive shudder wracked him from neck to toes and his moan echoed and rattled down the hall. Selina pulled away the second his seed stopped flowing, coughing yet still trying to swallow what she could. Her hand touched her throat, and she grimaced. Gods, it was sore.

Yondu hadn’t quite come down from the high of his climax when he picked Selina up from the floor and held her by the arms. His thumb wiped away a trickle of his own fluids from her chin, and his lips came crashing down into hers. Right away, his shoulders tightened up, he felt the need to bolt, but he wanted to kiss her. Yondu could taste himself, the salt, the bitterness, but just like her scent, a taste of her own was buried underneath there, somewhere. Selina pressed herself against him, her body warm and welcoming even though he could feel a fresh flow of burning tears on her face. She was grieving. More accurately, in her own, quiet way, she was avoiding her grief. But Yondu more than happily held her.

No, Selina didn’t owe him anything. But that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t still take her back to his bed and keep her there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Why do I keep posting these well after midnight? I have an exam in eight hours.  
> Also, hello humiliation via Taylor Swift song that may or may not be on one of my writing playlists. /Ahem./ At least I'm trying to work on my intensive POV-switching, right?  
> Thank you, everyone, for your continued support. I continue to be both physically floored and entirely grateful that my first smutfic's being received so well.


End file.
